French army appears to mock Donald Trump in viral tweet Published duration 13 November 2018

image copyright Getty Images image caption Donald and Melania Trump were in Paris to mark 100 years since the end of World War One

The French army appeared to poke fun at Donald Trump on Twitter, after the US president cancelled a visit to a World War One cemetery over poor weather.

"There's rain, but it's no problem," the army's account tweeted, with the hashtag #MondayMotivation.

Mr Trump was widely criticised for failing to visit the Aisne-Marne American cemetery before Armistice Day.

The French army later claimed the tweet was only meant to be about training.

"Thanks to our fans for sharing this," the follow-up post read, "sorry to those who misinterpreted it, but there was no allusion to anything other than the usual activities of the soldiers of the army, which this morning took place in the rain!"

Mr Trump's press secretary Sarah Sanders has defended his decision to skip the memorial event last Saturday, saying visibility was too poor for his helicopter and he did not want to disrupt the Paris traffic with his motorcade.

On Monday, the White House also confirmed that the president would not be attending a remembrance ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery that day.

The president himself has since taken to twitter to launch a public defence of his actions.