President Donald Trump has gone on a back-slapping victory lap after stealing a clock from his secretary of state, Marco Rubio.
During a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the president found time between issue such as Gaza and global tariffs to boast about his proposed redesign of the Cabinet Room in the White House. This mainly involves splashing gold leaf around the place to make it look like his Florida residence, Mar-A-Lago.
Even still, Trump proudly pointed out the tweaks he had already made, drawing attention to the portraits of past presidents that he retrieved from the vault to hang in the room. “I picked it all myself. I’m very proud of it,” he said.
One moment in particular stood out, as the commander-in-chief revealed that he pulled rank on Rubio to relieve him of a “beautiful” grandfather clock that was stationed in his State Department office.
“So as president, you have the power—if I go into the State Department, or Department of Commerce or Treasury—if I see anything that I like, I’m allowed to take it. Can you believe this?” Trump said, prompting laughs from everyone in the room.
Trump then earnestly launched into a story about how he forced Rubio— who, in a jab about his height, he dubbed ’Little Marco’ during the 2016 presidential campaign—to give up the ornamental timepiece.
“I’m in Marco’s office [and] I see this gorgeous clock, grandfather clock,” a grinning Trump explained, with Rubio awkwardly smiling to his right.
“I had to read him the rule and regulation,” Trump joked as he delivered the first of two sturdy slaps to Rubio’s back. “I said, ‘Marco, I love this clock. Look at it. It’s beautiful.’”
“He said, ‘What clock?’” Trump said, adding that he tried to cajole Rubio into voluntarily giving up the timepiece.
“I tried to talk him into it first, and it sort of worked,” the president added, suggesting that he needed to apply more pressure to push the deal over the line.
He said he received pushback from Rubio before he was forced to pull rank. “I said, ‘Marco, I have the right to do it,’” Trump told the Cabinet Room as he slapped Rubio’s back for a second time. Hard.
“That’s his contribution to the Cabinet Room,” Trump concluded. “But, by the way, it’s an incredible clock.”
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