President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi skipped a meeting with Hillary Clinton in 2016 after first speaking to Trump in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election.
Trump met with Sisi in Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday as other leaders also gathered to sign a peace deal aimed at ending the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The Claim
The claim by Trump came as he spoke to reporters alongside his Egyptian counterpart on Monday about the deal he brokered.
During remarks on current issues, Trump referred to the pair’s first meeting in 2016.
“We knew each other from the beginning,” Trump said. “The first time we met was in a hotel. I was going to meet him, and then Hillary Clinton was following me, remember? Hillary Clinton!
“He liked me so much, that he never even got to see Hillary. He saw her for about two seconds, but he didn’t really want to waste a lot of time. He knew what was going to happen.”
The Facts
Trump did meet with Sisi on September 19, 2016, and so did Clinton.
The Egyptian leader was in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, and the two meetings sparked discussion around how United States-Egypt relations might look under either a Trump administration or a Clinton White House, the Atlantic Council reported at the time.
Clinton, the Democratic Party’s nominee, had spent four years as President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State, and used those credentials when speaking about foreign policy on the campaign trail.
ABC reporter Liz Kreutz (now at NBC News) shared a readout of the meeting Clinton had with Sisi on Twitter at the time.
“Secretary Clinton and President Sisi had a constructive discussion about bilateral ties and cooperation on a wide range of issues, including counterterrorism. They also discussed the importance of economic development and investment in Egypt. Secretary Clinton emphasized the importance of respect for rule of law and human rights to Egypt's future progress,” the readout said.
“Secretary Clinton called for the release of U.S. citizen Aya Hijazi and raised concerns about prosecution of Egyptian human rights organizations and activists. Secretary Clinton discussed ways to deepen counterterrorism cooperation, particularly in the fight against ISIS. She and President Sisi exchanged views about the Middle East, and Secretary Clinton underscored the importance of the Egyptian cooperation with Israel on counterterrorism, and her commitment to defeating ISIS, to addressing foreign fighters, and to countering radicalization.”
The readout and other reporting from the time suggest that Clinton and Sisi met for far longer than the two seconds Trump claimed on Monday. One report said the meeting lasted over 70 minutes.
Sisi also met with Trump that day, with the Republican also focused on tackling Islamic extremism. His campaign praised Egypt’s role as a leader in the Middle East and North Africa.
Trump promised Sisi that, should he be elected in 2016, the U.S. would “be a loyal friend, not simply an ally” to Egypt. He was joined at the meeting by Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions and Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who were both foreign policy advisors on the campaign. The pair met again at the White House in April 2017, during Trump's first term.
Regarding the order of the 2016 meetings, per Reuters, Sisi met with Clinton first, followed by Trump soon after, rather than the other way around. Both meetings took place in the same New York hotel.
The Ruling
Given the reporting around the conversation Clinton had with Sisi in 2016, and the records of meeting timelines, Newsweek finds Trump’s 2025 claim to be false.