‘Every Joke Was About Me’: Trump Claims He ‘Loved’ White House Correspondents’ Dinner During Obama Presidency

President Donald Trump said he “really loved” the White House Correspondents’ Dinner he attended during former President Barack Obama’s presidency.

Trump joined Thursday’s edition of Fox’s The Five to discuss the ongoing US military operation in Iran and his recent announcement of a ten-day pause on previously threatened strikes against Iranian energy plants. Later in the segment, host Greg Gutfeld asked the president about the upcoming White House Correspondents’ dinner, an event that Trump has traditionally skipped but will be attending this year.

“You know, I haven’t done it because right from the beginning I was treated rather rudely and crudely,” said Trump. “You know, I won the election in 2016. It was one of the greatest elections ever. And you were all witness to it, and I had great — but they were so nasty. The press was so nasty, I just– so I didn’t do it.”

The president said that people had claimed he decided to run for president after poor treatment at the dinner under Obama, telling the hosts that this was far from the truth.

“And you know, there is this theory I was there while Barack Hussein Obama was speaking, and he was hitting me a little bit. Actually, it was very nice, and I was actually– I loved it. I really loved it,” said Trump.

He continued:

I was saying to my wife, our first lady, our movie star first lady– you know, I always say, there is only room in a family for one star, this be a problem but she is a movie star, can you believe it? But I was saying to her, I said “You know, I love this, I am having a good time,” because every joke was about me and I sort of liked– I can handle that stuff. They said I was so upset with that evening that I decided that evening to run for president. Well, it wasn’t, but it was at the White House dinner. Had nothing to do with my running for president. I ask you enjoyed it. But I never did it, and I said I’ll do it now.

The White House Correspondents’ Association announced last month that mentalist Oz Pearlman will be the headliner for April’s Correspondents’ Dinner, upending the previous tradition of inviting stand-up comedians to host.

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