Trump thought Nepal, Bhutan were part of India

US president called the countries 'nipple' and 'button'

US President Donald Trump thought Nepal and Bhutan were a part of India and referred to them as 'nipple' and 'button', India Today reported.

A TIME magazine piece published Tuesday details an incident at a briefing  where Trump had to be corrected on basic world geography.



"In another briefing on South Asia, Trump’s advisors brought a map of the region from Afghanistan to Bangladesh, according to intelligence officers with knowledge of the meeting and congressional officials who were briefed on it. Trump, they said, pointed at the map and said he knew that Nepal was part of India, only to be told that it is an independent nation. When he said he was familiar with Bhutan and it was part of India, his briefers told him that Bhutan was an independent kingdom."

Politico reported that this briefing occurred before Trump met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017 and that during this meeting the US president "mispronounced Nepal as 'nipple' and laughingly referred to Bhutan as 'button'," while he looked at a map of South Asia.

"Wait, seriously, that's what he said?" said Brooke Baldwin, a CNN anchor, when TIME's John Walcott -- the author of Tuesday's piece -- told her about the "Nipple" and "Button" episode.

John Walcott @TIME shares his extraordinary reporting out today “'Willful Ignorance.' Inside President Trump's Troubled Intelligence Briefings. Added bonus: how Trump first pronounced Nepal (“nipple”) and Bhutan (“button”). Watch: #CNN pic.twitter.com/nVdzTwlQin

— Brooke Baldwin (@BrookeBaldwin) February 4, 2019

This article originally appeared on India Today.