Trump set for high-stakes talks with world leaders on the reopening of Notre Dame in Paris
President-elect Donald Trump is set to confront an explosive diplomatic clash during his Paris visit Saturday, with an expected meeting with the president of the Republic of Georgia amid street protests over the disputed election there.
Trump, who is heading to France at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron for the reopening of the Notre Dame, is expected to hold the meeting at the restored cathedral.
‘They’re having a meeting at Notre Dame. Macron brokered the meeting, is taking her to the meeting,’ a source told DailyMail.com, speaking of the Georgian president.
There are also indications he will meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky at the event, setting up his trip as Trump’s first new diplomatic push since the election.
The planned talk with the Georgian leader comes at a tense time. Protesters have been converging on parliament nightly in Tbilisi over the ruling party’s move to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union. Police have orchestrated a crackdown, but protesters have kept up nightly street demonstrations, sometimes being met with police water cannons.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced Thursday that his country would suspend talks for European Union membership for four years, until the end of 2029. The country got conditional candidate status last year.
It would be the first engagement by Trump in a hot spot in Russia‘s periphery during the transition. He has already shaken world capitals with his pronouncements on tariffs and demands for border security from Canada and Mexico. Up to 50 world leaders and heads of state will joing Macron to mark the occasion, with Trump coming at the president’s invitation.
Argentina’s right wing leader Javier Milei was the first to meet with Trump since the November elections. Still to be determined is how Trump will handle issues near and dear to Russian President Vladimir Putin – including in former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili’s term is set to expire, but she is refusing to relinquish her post amid the crisis in her country and a split with the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili has sought to keep her country on the path toward integration with Europe. She is expected to meet with Donald Trump at Notre Dame in Paris
A Ukrainian government source told AFP that President Zelensky could meet Trump in Paris as well – indicating that the president-elect could have his diplomatic plate full on the trip. ‘The president of Ukraine will attend the celebrations on the occasion of the restoration of the cathedral of Notre-Dame. He will meet with President Macron,’ said the official, amid rumors in Washington of a reunion. Trump and Zelensky met in late September.
Zourabichvili said her mission was ‘represent the voice of those people that are on the streets,’ telling Reuters amid the conflagation, ‘They need to have somebody to rally around and I’m that figure.’
The pro-Russian Georgian Dream won the parliamentary elections seven weeks ago that the European parliament condemned as unfair.
The U.S. sanctioned Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze in June, before the balloting, and accused him of undermining democracy.
‘I remind everyone that there will be no revolution in Georgia,’ said the prime minister. Regime police on Wednesday arrested an opposition leader, in another concerning development.
In a warning with dark overtones, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, a key Putin advisor, said Sunday that Georgia was ‘moving rapidly along the Ukrainian path, into the dark abyss.’ He said it would end ‘very badly.’
Georgian-American businessman Giorgi Rtskhiladze points to the country’s role as a critical transit area that Putin has long had designs on controlling.
‘If you dominate the Black Sea coast, such as Odessa and Georgia, you are pretty much locked in and you dominate the 12 landlocked countries behind Georgia, including China,’ he told DailyMail.com.
At issue are major energy transit pathways to Europe.
‘I’lI you put a value on that quantified, it’s trillions of dollars and really important aspects for Europe,’ he said.
Rtskhiladze played a role in the Russia probe when the Mueller report included an infamous footnote inaccurately calling him Russian and altering a quote about ‘some tapes’ from Moscow – in what could have been a reference to the debunked ‘golden showers’ tape alleged to involve Trump. The D.C. circuit ruled he can sue to correct the report, and the matter is headed to the Supreme Court.
Trump has been engaging in diplomacy even while announcing pics to fill out his administration
Regime police have clashed with protesters outside parliament on successive nights
Riot police with shields (Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP)
Demonstrators light candles during a rally (Pavel Bednyakov/AP)
Police block demonstrators during a rally outside the parliament (Pavel Bednyakov/AP)
Rtskhiladze called on the president-elect to emulate Ronald Reagan in diplomatic dealings with the country during the last days of the Soviet Union.
He joined with Trump on a tower project in Georgia and hosted him there in 2012 along with then-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
‘He understood at the time very clearly how important Georgia was to us and how important Georgia was to the east-west combination.
‘Trump said that, you know, if he ever becomes president, he would definitely make sure Georgia has its own sovereignty, because this is really important for us, because Georgia is the gateway between East and West,’ he said.
The Trump transition did not respond to requests for comment about potential meetings.
Stater Department spokesman Matthew Miller last week issued a statement calling on Georgia to ‘return to it’s Euro-Atlantic path.’
By suspending Georgia’s EU accession process, Georgian Dream has rejected the opportunity for closer ties with Europe and made Georgia more vulnerable to the Kremlin.
‘The Georgian people overwhelmingly support integration with Europe. The United States condemns the excessive use of force by police against Georgians seeking to exercise their rights to assembly and expression, including their freedom to peacefully protest,’ Miller said.
