Trump ‘fascinated’ by dictators, Merkel says in memoirs

BERLIN: US President-elect Donald Trump has a fascination with dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel says in her memoirs, according to excerpts published by Die Zeit newspaper on Thursday.

At their first meeting in Washington in March 2017 after Trump was elected to his first term in the White House, the US leader “asked me a series of questions”, Merkel said.

Trump wanted to know about “my East German background and my relationship with Putin. He was clearly very fascinated by the Russian president,” she said. “In the years that followed, I had the impression that has was captivated by politicians with autocratic and dictatorial tendencies.” Merkel´s memoir, “Freedom”, co-written with her longtime political adviser Beate Baumann, is due to be published simultaneously in 30 languages on Tuesday.

The eagerly anticipated 736-page book is expected to shed new light on Merkel´s four terms in office between 2005 and 2021, during which she was the world´s most powerful woman.

In the excerpts published by Die Zeit, Merkel said that when she flew home after her first meeting with Trump, she was left with “a bad feeling”. Trump greeted Merkel with a handshake in front of the press but when journalists asked for a second handshake he ignored them, she said.