French Government's spokesperson Benjamin Griveaux gives a press conference at the Elysee presidential Palace after the weekly cabinet meeting, on November 14, 2018, in Paris. / AFP / Ludovic Marin
PARIS: France's government has fired back at a flurry of critical tweets by Donald Trump, suggesting the U.S. president lacked "common decency" by launching his broadside on a day when France was mourning victims of the November 2015 terror attacks.
Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said Wednesday: "We were commemorating the assassination of 130 of our compatriots three years ago in Paris and Saint-Denis, and so I will reply in English: 'Common decency' would have been appropriate."
Nursing grievances from a weekend visit to France, Trump lit into French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday over his suggestion for a European defense force, over French tariffs on U.S. wine and even Macron's approval ratings.
The tweets underscored tensions between the once-chummy leaders and displayed Trump's irritation over criticism of how he acted in France.
