May 25 U.S. President Donald Trump told Emmanuel Macron on Thursday that he had been his favourite to win the French presidential election and media reports that he was backing far-right leader Marine Le Pen were wrong, a French official said.

“You were my guy,” Trump told the new French president when they met for the first time in Brussels, the French presidency official said.

Trump told Macron that, contrary to media reports during the race, he had not backed Le Pen and had followed Macron’s campaign with great attention, the source said, adding that the two leaders had spoken in English.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said he did not know if Trump had said this to Macron but noted that the two men had good chemistry.