Trump now thanks Turnbull for telling the 'truth'

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Press Trust of India Washington
Last Updated : Feb 03 2017 | 7:32 PM IST

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Donald Trump today praised Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for telling the "truth" about their "civil" conversation on the bilateral refugee deal, a day after the US President described the Obama-era agreement as a "dumb deal."
Trump called their conversation "very civil" in a tweet, adding that "fake news" media had lied about details of the exchange during their first telephonic talk held last Saturday.
"Thank you to Prime Minister of Australia for telling the truth about our very civil conversation that FAKE NEWS media lied about. Very nice!" Trump tweeted.
The US-Australia deal to take 1,250 refugees from Manus Island and Nauru was brokered in the closing weeks of the Obama administration.
Many of the refugees are from the seven Muslim-majority countries affected by Trump's recent travel ban.
Details of a tense phone conversation with Turnbull, which Trump reportedly described as "the worst by far", were published by the Washington Post yesterday.
Trump reportedly accused Turnbull of seeking to export the "next Boston bombers" to the US, and complained that the deal was going to kill him politically.
Trump followed up the conversation with a tweet in which he railed against the "dumb deal".
"Look, I'm not going to comment on a conversation between myself and the President of the United States other than what we have said publicly, and you can surely understand the reasons for that," the Australian Prime Minister had said yesterday.
Turnbull also said he was disappointed the details of the call - which he described as "very frank and forthright" - had been leaked.
Overnight, Trump slightly moderated his language, telling a Washington event that: "I have a lot of respect for Australia, I love Australia as a country - but we have a problem".
He urged people not to "worry" about the "tough" phone calls he was having with world leaders.
"A lot of countries are taking advantage of us. Terribly taking advantage of us," he said.
Australia's Ambassador in Washington Joe Hockey met top Trump adviser Steve Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus at the White House yesterday amid ongoing discussions over the agreement.

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First Published: Feb 03 2017 | 7:32 PM IST

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