President Donald Trump has lashed out against a top Australian diplomat who was invited to the White House, after learning that his guest had been highly critical of him.
The painfully awkward moment took place during Trump’s first ever Washington meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, moments after the two leaders signed an agreement on rare earth minerals.
But unbeknown to Trump, Albanese’s chosen Ambassador to the U.S, Kevin Rudd, who is also Australia’s former prime minister and was sitting opposite him, had previously called the president “nuts”; “the most destructive president in history”; a “traitor to the West”; and “a village idiot.”
Asked by a journalist from the right-leaning Sky News Australia, if he had any concerns about the things that Rudd had previously said about him, Trump initially replied: “I don’t know anything about him. If he said something bad, maybe he’d like to apologize.”
He then turned to Albanese and asked: “Did an ambassador say something bad about me? Don’t tell me. Where is he? Is he still working for you?”
Albanese, laughing awkwardly, pointed to Rudd, who had put his hand up from across the table.
“Did you say bad?” Trump demanded to know.
“Before I took this position, Mr President…” Rudd began to explain.
“I don’t like you either,” Trump hit back, “and I probably never will.”
The tense exchange set off alarm bells in Australia, where the Albanese government—which had a strong relationship with the Biden administration—has come under scrutiny for months as it sought to strengthen ties with the Trump White House.
The alliance is particularly important given Australia’s strategic role helping to safeguard the Indo-Pacific from the threat of China through the AUKUS submarine pact, in which America has promised to help the country acquire a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.
Rudd made the comments years ago in his role with the independent think tank the Asia Society, but many are now questioning how long he will keep his job, given the president’s tendency to punish dissent.
In 2019, during the first Trump administration for instance, Britain’s then ambassador to the U.S, Kim Darroch described the U.S. administration as dysfunctional, clumsy and inept in diplomatic cables that were leaked to a British newspaper.
This led to him resigning after Trump branded him a fool and essentially froze him out, making it impossible to do his job.
Others, however, have pointed out that Trump has forgiven people who used to be highly critical of him—most notably Vice President JD Vance, who once described him as “America’s Hitler.”
Democrat Congressman Joe Courtney, the co-chair of the Friends of Australia caucus, rushed to Rudd’s defense, saying that the strong support for AUKUS at today’s White House meeting and the new agreement on rare earth minerals “are testaments to Ambassador Rudd’s relentless advocacy for the U.S.-Australia alliance.”
“Ambassador Rudd shows no partisan bias in his work and that has not changed with the new administration,” he told the Daily Beast.
Monday’s meeting was not the first time Trump has railed against the Australian diplomat, although the 79-year-old president did not seem to remember.
Last year, during an interview with Britain’s right-leaning GB News, former Brexit party leader Nigel Farage told Trump about Rudd’s past criticism.
“He won’t be there long then, if that’s the case,” said the then Republican election candidate.
“I don’t know much about him. I heard he was a little bit nasty. I hear he’s not the brightest bulb. But I don’t know much about him. But if, if he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Australian Embassy for comment.
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