Trump dodges previous criticism of France during visit

President Trump wouldn’t repeat his past criticism of France when confronted Thursday by a French reporter who asked him if he still believes the concerns he raised about the country on the campaign trail.

“It’s going to be just fine because you have a great president, you have somebody who is going to run this country right,” Trump said during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.

“You have a tough president, he’s not going to be easy on people that are breaking the laws and people who show this tremendous violence. So I really have a feeling you will have a very, very peaceful and beautiful Paris, and I’m coming back,” he said.

As he finished his answer, he turned to Macron with a smile and nudged him.

{mosads}”You better do a good job, please. Otherwise, you are going to make me look really bad,” he added.

The French reporter’s question harkened back to Trump’s repeated criticism of France during his White House bid.

During a July 2016 interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” after Trump had clinched the GOP nomination, he told host Chuck Todd that “we have problems with France” because they’ve been compromised by terrorism.

“You know why? It’s their own fault … because they allowed people to come into their territory,” he said.

Trump also regularly told the story of a friend named “Jim,” who, according to Trump’s account, told him that he doesn’t go to Paris anymore because “Paris is no longer Paris.”

The Associated Press investigated the root of the story and asked the White House to shed light on “Jim” this week, but the White House reportedly did not respond to those questions.