Former President Donald Trump offered his prayers to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his family after he was shot while giving a speech in Japan.
Trump’s statement was posted on his Truth Social platform on Friday. The relationship between the two world leaders emerged as one of the strongest bilateral friendships that Trump made during his presidency.
FORMER JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER SHINZON ABE SHOT AT CAMPAIGN EVENT
“Absolutely devastating news that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, a truly great man and leader, has been shot, and is in very serious condition. He was a true friend of mine and, much more importantly, America. This is a tremendous blow to the wonderful people of Japan, who loved and admired him so much. We are all praying for Shinzo and his beautiful family!” Trump wrote in a statement.
❤️????? pic.twitter.com/gQnOynv81G
— Dan Scavino Jr.??? (@DanScavino) July 8, 2022
The two men bonded while in office, particularly over a shared love of golf.
In 2016, Abe presented Trump, then the president-elect, with a gold-plated driver when the two met in New York.
Trump and Abe hit the fairways on multiple occasions during their tenures. The two first hit the links at Trump’s course in Jupiter, Florida, in 2017, when he and then-first lady Melania Trump hosted Abe and his wife, Akie Abe, at Mar-a-Lago.
When Trump embarked on a five-nation trip to Asia later that year, the pair golfed once again at the Kasumi Country Club in Japan. Trump would tee off again in Japan with Abe in May 2019, ahead of a G-20 summit.
Abe notably referred to Trump as “Donald” in public before the 2019 summit, an apparent sign of the comfort level the Japanese leader had with the former president.
“Abe is seen as having the best relationship of any leader with Trump,” Heritage Foundation’s Bruce Klingner told the Washington Examiner in August of 2020.
“He’s the only leader of a major democracy who has had good relations with Trump from beginning to end,” the American Enterprise Institute’s Zack Cooper observed.
Abe resigned as prime minister in August of 2020, citing poor health, ending an eight-year run as Japan’s leader.
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In a call between Trump and Abe two days after his resignation, Trump reportedly told him he was “the greatest prime minister in Japanese history.”
Abe, 67, was pronounced dead after being shot in Nara, Japan, while giving a speech.
