US President Donald Trump says he won't apologise to Pope Leo. 'I think he's very weak on crime and other things,' he tells reporters at the White House. Video / AFP
If the McDonald’s delivery to the Oval Office wasn’t extraordinary enough, US President Donald Trump’s press conference on Iran, the Pope and Jesus certainly was.
The 79-year-old, a well-known fast food fan, emerged from the heart of the White House to take possession of two bags of burgers froma DoorDash employee.
“I have a DoorDash order for you, Mr President,” said delivery worker Sharon Simmons, wearing a red T-shirt with her company’s logo, as she handed him the paper bags.
“This doesn’t look staged, does it?” Trump asked reporters after receiving the delivery from Simmons, whom the company described as a grandmother of 10 from Arkansas.
The event was designed to highlight billionaire Republican Trump’s “no tax on tips” policy, which he said had resulted in an $11,000 rebate for Simmons this year.
“I did post it – and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do [with the] Red Cross,” Trump replied.
“And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”
The questions then turned to the Iran war, a conflict that has sent oil prices soaring and raised questions about the US economy before crucial midterm elections in November.
Trump’s self-imposed blockade on Iranian ports took effect just over two hours before the press conference, following the failure of talks in Pakistan at the weekend.
Insisting that Iranian representatives had called Washington since, Trump said Iran “very badly” wants to make a deal, which he said had to include stopping Tehran from ever getting a nuclear weapon.
‘Good tippers’
US President Donald Trump speaks to the press during an event outside the Oval Office of the White House on April 13. Photo / Getty Images
With the bemused delivery worker still at his side, Trump then also made it clear he was not going to be apologising any time soon to the first US-born head of the Catholic Church.
“There’s nothing to apologise for. He’s wrong,” Trump told reporters, a day after another Truth Social post and comments to reporters slamming Leo over his opposition to the Iran war.
“Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran,” said Trump, adding that Leo was “very weak on crime and other things”.
Trump then veered onto one of his favourite topics – his administration’s ban on transgender people in women’s sports – and asked Sharon Simmons what she thought.
