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Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the Chancellor of Germany, June 5, 2025

June 5, 2025 · The White House · 0:42:12

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump participated in a bilateral meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany in the Oval Office on June 5, 2025, carried in full on the White House channel. Merz opened with a gift: “This is the birth certificate of Donald Trump’s grandfather, born in 1869, close to Bad Durkheim… And his Christian name was Friedrich,” as Merz presented the framed document. “That’s a serious German name,” the President replied. “We’ll put it up in a place of honor.”

Turning to the war, the President said: “We both feel that way. What’s going with Russia-Ukraine… I’d like to see it end, and maybe it’ll end,” adding: “It’s pure bloodshed. Five, six thousand young soldiers a week are being killed. You know that? Those numbers. There’s staggering numbers,” as he stated the toll. He congratulated Merz on his election and stated the mandate framing: “Part of our mandate is we’re going to have a great relationship with your country.”

Why it matters

This Oval Office bilateral is the Merz relationship’s founding on-camera moment: the grandfather’s birth certificate as the personal frame, the shared stated aim of ending the Russia-Ukraine war, and the casualty figures the President put on the record in front of the Chancellor.

Scoreboard watch

This meeting is a scoreboard reference point: the President’s June 5, 2025 statement of 5,000–6,000 soldiers killed per week in the Russia-Ukraine war, as stated by the President, to be checked against the casualty record.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the Chancellor of Germany” (official upload, embedded above). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President and by Chancellor Merz.