The Washington Post just released eye-popping transcripts of Trump's calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia

(Image credit: Screenshot/The Washington Post)

published 3 August 2017

The Washington Post published transcripts of President Trump's Jan. 27 phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Jan. 28 phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Thursday, revealing startling insight into the president's approach to negotiations.

In speaking with Peña Nieto, Trump repeatedly asked the Mexican president to stop saying that Mexico won't pay for the border wall. "You cannot say that to the press. The press is going to go with that, and I cannot live with that," Trump said, although he seemed to acknowledge that the funding would "work out in the formula somehow."

Trump additionally told Peña Nieto: "They are sending drugs to Chicago, Los Angeles, and to New York. Up in New Hampshire — I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den — is coming from the southern border. So we have a lot of problems with Mexico farther than the economic problem." But Trump also took a friendly tone with the Mexican president, telling him, "It is you and I against the world, Enrique, do not forget."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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