The US Ambassador to New Zealand has rubbished claims that President Donald Trump and Jacinda Ardern don't have a good relationship.
Scott Brown told The AM Show on Thursday that Trump was "first to call" Prime Minister Ardern following the Christchurch terror attack in March 2019.
"He was the first one to call during Christchurch to offer any and all assistance," he said.
"And he called to congratulate her, he called me when she won [the election] recently to say 'when should I call'?"
He quickly clarified that Trump himself hadn't placed the call to him, but the President's chief of staff had.
The relationship between Ardern and Trump has long been speculated on. Ardern was described as "the anti-Trump" on a Vogue profile of her when she was first elected in October 2017.
The pair met for the first time shortly after her election and Ardern says it was an interesting first encounter.
"I was waiting to walk out to be introduced at the East Asia Summit gala dinner... and while we were waiting, Trump, in jest, patted the person next to him on the shoulder, pointed at me and said, 'This lady caused a lot of upset in her country,' talking about the election," Ardern told Newsroom.
"I said, 'Well, you know, only maybe 40 percent,' then he said it again and I said, 'You know,' laughing, 'no one marched when I was elected'."
Ardern herself marched against Trump - as a Labour MP. She joined thousands in Auckland as part of the global women's march the day after Trump's January 2017 inauguration.
She also hit back at a headline from the Wall Street Journal which compared her to Trump for her stance on immigration, saying it was "offensive".
