‘Japan’s first lady speaks no English’

WASHINGTON — It’s yet another element of mystery concerning President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin — this one centering on the quality of dinner-party chitchat.

Trump says he went over to speak with the Russian president during a dinner in Germany this month because he was unable to speak to his seatmate, the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Akie Abe “doesn’t speak English ... like, not ‘Hello,’ “Trump told the New York Times in an interview Wednesday. Not so. Akie Abe, the daughter of a wealthy Japanese family, attended a private Roman Catholic international school in Tokyo before she attended college. The elementary-through-high-scho ol academy, the Sacred Heart School, includes rigorous English-language instruction as part of its curriculum.

Social media swiftly found clips of the 55-year-old Abe making speeches in somewhat accented but perfectly serviceable English.

Trump’s dinnertime encounter with Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg — against the backdrop of a burgeoning investigation of Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election — has come under close scrutiny because the White House did not disclose it for 10 days. Also, no other U.S. official, not even an interpreter, was privy to the conversation.

Putin — who is known to speak English but sticks to Russian in official settings — used his own interpreter during the dinnertime talk, and there is no U.S. record of what was said other than Trump’s assertion in the interview that the two leaders discussed adoption.