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Donald Trump filmed dropping in on a wedding party straight after giving North Korea statement

'I said to the PM of Japan. I said, come on Shinzo let’s go over and say hello'

Max Benwell
Tuesday 14 February 2017 19:12 GMT
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US President Donald Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, his wife Akie Abe, US First Lady Melania Trump and Robert Kraft ,owner of the New England Patriots, sit down for dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort
US President Donald Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, his wife Akie Abe, US First Lady Melania Trump and Robert Kraft ,owner of the New England Patriots, sit down for dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort (Getty Images)

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Donald Trump mingled among a wedding party with the coolness and ease you may expect of Barack Obama on Sunday evening. He posed for photos with bridesmaids, told jokes, and made a speech to an adoring crowd.

Moments beforehand however, he was surrounded by a rush of US and Japanese aides scrambling to respond to a North Korean missile test, using the flashlights on their phones to read briefing notes. This took place in full view of Mar-a-Lago’s guests, who gawked, took photos, and in some cases uploaded them to Facebook.

“HOLY MOLY !!! It was fascinating to watch the flurry of activity at dinner when the news came that North Korea had launched a missile in the direction of Japan,” wrote Richard DeAgazio, a recent member of the member’s club, on his personal Facebook page. DeAgazio also posted a photo of him and a man called “Rick”: the US officer reportedly in charge of Trump’s nuclear football.

But as the night wore on even Kim Jong-un’s nuclear ambitions couldn’t deter President Trump from having fun. In a video posted on Instagram (embedded below), Trump is seen giving a speech to the wedding party. “So ladies and gentlemen, all I can say is that I know both families very very well,” he says. “They’ve been members of this club a very long time, they’ve paid me a fortune. These are two great families.”

In the video Trump also goes on to say how he got the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe to come and greet to the wedding guests with him. “I said to the PM of Japan. I said, come on Shinzo let’s go over and say hello”. He then points out that they should now have some “pretty good pictures the prime minister of Japan and the president.”

Another guest posted a photo of the married couple and Donald Trump on Instagram. The caption reads: "So excited to see the President! He was so nice! He said he'd known both families a long time and they had given him a lot of money!". She has since made her account private.

The former White House photographer Pete Souza responded to Trump's handling of the North Korea test with a not-so-subtle dig. On Monday he posted a photo of Barack Obama and his aides in a tent. "When we were on the road, national security discussions and head of state phone calls were conducted in a private, secure location set up onsite," the caption reads.

Since he became President, Trump has been criticised for not giving up his Mar-a-Lago resort, which he calls the “Winter White House”. Upon his inauguration annual membership fees have doubled to $200,000, which has led to accusations that he is "selling access to himself". As he has not divested the property, he has also been accused of using his position to market the resort, and personally profit from the high-paying guests his newfound allure is pulling in.

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