Malcolm Turnbull, Australian Leader, Pokes Fun at Trump in Leaked Recording
Mr. Trump abruptly ended the conversation and later posted on Twitter
that the agreement was a "dumb deal." In the leaked recording, Mr. Turnbull joked about the leaders’ first face-to-face meeting last month in New York, which had been preceded by much analysis about its potential awkwardness in light of the January call.
On Thursday, an Australian news network released a brief recording of Mr. Turnbull poking fun
at the president, at a dinner full of journalists that was supposed to be off the record.
that The Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls,
"It was the most beautiful putting-me-at-ease ever." Many Australian commentators thought Mr. Turnbull had come off as weak during
that meeting, and there was speculation Thursday that the recording was leaked deliberately to make him look less subservient to the president.
"It’s a breach of protocol, it’s a breach of faith and all those things,
but you know it’s lighthearted, it’s affectionate, good-natured, and the butt of my jokes was myself," Mr. Turnbull told a radio station.
During the call, Mr. Turnbull pressed Mr. Trump to honor an agreement, reached near the end of the
Obama administration, to accept hundreds of refugees from Australian offshore detention centers.