(FILES) US President Donald Trump (L) attends a meeting with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel during the G20 Osaka Summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019. US President-elect Donald Trump has a fascination with dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel says in her memoirs to be presented on November 26, 2024, according to excerpts published by Die Zeit newspaper on November 21, 2024. At their first meeting in Washington in March 2017 after Trump was elected to his first term in the White House, the US leader "asked me a series of questions", Merkel said. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)