In his tweet, Trump said “the people of France will not take much more of this,” referring to a deadly shootout on the Champs-Elysees, Paris’s most famous avenue, Thursday night that claimed the life of a police officer.

AD

Voters in France go to the polls Sunday.

Asked during a news briefing Friday about what the president meant by his tweet, White House press secretary Sean Spicer declined to shed light on Trump's preference in the French elections.

AD

"I think major events clearly have effects on voters' attitudes," Spicer told reporters Friday. "But I’m not going to weigh in about what the voters of France will decide on Sunday."

In tweets Friday morning, Trump also touched on tensions with North Korea, reasserting his view that China could be a large help in bringing the authoritarian regime to heel.

“China is very much the economic lifeline to North Korea so, while nothing is easy, if they want to solve the North Korean problem, they will,” Trump said on Twitter.

Trump has previously stated that the United States would be willing to take unilateral action to contain North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. After a recent summit in Florida with Chinese President Xi Jinping, however, Trump has expressed a greater interest in working with China.