Japan's first lady knows how to speak English. She just didn't want to talk to Trump.

Wagatwe Wanjuki

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Thursday July 20, 2017 · 11:27 AM PDT

2017/07/20 · 11:27

LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 01: Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) and his wife Akie Abe attend a reception at the Japanese American National Museum May 1, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. Abe is on tour in the United States until May 3. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) — Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) and his wife Akie Abe

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Trump’s latest interview with the New York Times has a lot of WTF moments, but there’s a small piece of information that’d make anyone giggle. During an exchange about his impromptu conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump claimed that he didn’t talk to his dinner neighbor Japan’s First Lady Akie Abe because she doesn’t speak a lick of English:

TRUMP: So, I was seated next to the wife of Prime Minister Abe [Shinzo Abe of Japan], who I think is a terrific guy, and she’s a terrific woman, but doesn’t speak English.

HABERMAN: Like, nothing, right? Like zero?

TRUMP: Like, not “hello.”

HABERMAN: That must make for an awkward seating.

First Lady Abe must have thought it’d be awkward, too, because she didn’t say anything—but not because she doesn’t know English. Check out this keynote speech she gave in New York City three years ago at the Ford Foundation:

YouTube Video

And during her visit in February, Abe took a guided tour with Melania Trump—which was entirely in English.

Melania toured a garden in south Florida with Abe's wife - tour guide spoke English the entire time. No translators.

Unreal.
— J&JDebut (@JJDebut) July 20, 2017

This means Abe pretended to not speak English—or she just didn’t talk to him and Trump assumed her reluctance to speak meant a lack of English-speaking skills. Or maybe Trump is lying and is using it as an excuse. Either way, I think Abe was probably relieved to escape spending a nearly two-hour dinner talking to Trump.

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Japan's first lady knows how to speak English. She just didn't want to talk to Trump.

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