'Perfectly friendly': Veteran columnist Edward Luce recalls lengthy phone call with Trump

WASHINGTON, DC: Financial Times columnist Edward Luce said President Donald Trump was "perfectly friendly" during an extended phone conversation, recalling that the president answered his questions and spoke with him at length before Luce eventually found a way to wrap up the call.

Luce recounted the interaction during an episode of the podcast 'The Mona Charen Show', describing the conversation, which took place at the request of his editor around the start of the Iran conflict.

Trump asked Edward Luce for input on Iran strategy

According to Luce, the conversation eventually turned to the early stages of the US military operation against Iran, known as Operation Epic Fury, with Trump posing direct questions about potential next steps.

"Should I take the oil? Should I take Kharg Island?" Trump asked, according to Luce.

The columnist said he declined to offer strategic advice. "The response I gave was, 'I'm not qualified to answer that, Mr. President,' and I tried finding out, 'Is this an option you're considering?'" Luce said.

"I wondered about the usefulness of this," Luce said about the call, which he described as "very strange." The call even reminded him of "Alice in Wonderland," Luce said.

Luce said he had spoken with Trump before, saying, "He's perfectly friendly. He answers my questions, and sometimes talks for quite a long time."

Luce said the exchange left him with the impression that Trump was looking for a way to wind down the conflict in its early days.

"The response I gave was, 'I'm not qualified to answer that, Mr. President,' and I tried finding out, 'Is this an option you're considering?'" Luce said.

"But it became very clear to me, and everyone else really, by about between the 7th and 10th of March, very early on into Operation Epic Fury, that he was looking for an offramp."

Edward Luce recalls ending Trump's lengthy phone call

Luce said that after about 15 minutes, Trump began repeating himself, prompting Luce to look for a graceful way to end the call, something he said he "never expected" to have to do.

"I contrived to end the call... I said, 'Mr. President, I know you're really busy,'" Luce recalled.

However, the show's host, conservative writer Mona Charen, added that "people who are members of his golf club" say Trump often asks for advice from random people.

"He would just bump into people on the links, and he would say to any random golfer, 'So what should I do about North Korea and the nukes?'" Charen said.

"It's just mindboggling."

The anecdote offered a rare, informal glimpse into how Trump engaged one-on-one with journalists and members of the public outside formal interviews, with Luce's account suggesting the president remained accessible and conversational even during periods of heightened national security decision-making.