President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro is working “very hard” to fight the Amazon fires, despite the fact that reports broke this morning that Bolsonaro refused $20 million in aid from the G-7 alliance.

“I have gotten to know President @jairbolsonaro well in our dealings with Brazil,” tweeted Trump. “He is working very hard on the Amazon fires and in all respects doing a great job for the people of Brazil – Not easy. He and his country have the full and complete support of the USA!”

I have gotten to know President @jairbolsonaro well in our dealings with Brazil. He is working very hard on the Amazon fires and in all respects doing a great job for the people of Brazil – Not easy. He and his country have the full and complete support of the USA! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2019

French President Emmanuel Macron had said that funding was available immediately and could be spent on more fire-fighting planes to fight record fires ablaze in the Amazon rainforest. Bolsonaro’s chief of staff, Onyx Lorenzoni, said “we appreciate [the offer], but maybe those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe.”

“Brazil is a democratic, free nation that never had colonialist and imperialist practices, as perhaps is the objective of the Frenchman Macron,” Lorenzoni continued.

[Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images]

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