Trump discusses friendly exchange with Obama at Jimmy Carter's funeral: 'We all got along'
President-elect Donald Trump is speaking out about an apparent friendly exchange between himself and former President Barack Obama at Jimmy Carter's state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday, which has gone viral on social media.
Trump, who will return to office on Jan. 20, sat beside Obama, a row behind President Joe Biden, and was chatting and smiling before the ceremony.
"I didn’t realize how friendly it looked.," Trump told reporters on Friday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. "Boy, they look like two people that like each other. And we probably do," Trump said while watching his interaction with Obama on Fox News.
Trump did not divulge what he and Obama were talking about, but he did say, "We have (a) little different philosophies, right? I don’t know, we just got along. But I got along with everybody on that. You know, we met backstage before we went on, and I thought it was a beautiful service, but we all got along very well."
Trump, Obama and other living presidents and vice presidents attended Carter's memorial service, which Biden declared a national day of mourning.
Carter, who served as the 39th U.S. president, died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100 and was buried next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, in a private ceremony in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
Obama and Trump's relationship
Although it appeared to be smiles and laughs on Thursday, Obama and Trump have not seen eye-to-eye throughout their political careers.
During Trump's first presidential campaign, he frequently vowed to end several Obama-era policies, including Obamacare, climate change policies, LGBTQ+ protections and states that legalized marijuana. He also questioned Obama's birthplace on multiple occasions.
"I really don't know," Trump told CNN's Anderson Cooper in 2011 when asked whether or not he believed Obama was born in America. "I mean, I don't know why he wouldn't release his records. But you know, honestly, I don't want to get in it."
Obama has not held his tongue about Trump, with him in October questioning the mental competency of his successor by saying the country can’t afford an "older, loonier Donald Trump."
"There are questions about his competence. I mean, he’s out there giving two-hour speeches. It's like Fidel Castro – just keeps on talking. It's just word salads,” Obama said at a campaign rally for then-Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in Madison, Wisconsin.
Contributing: Paste BN's Joey Garrison