Trump seen on video joking about journalists getting ‘rough’ treatment from Kim Jong-un’s guards

Footage from meeting shows different version of events with White House staff pushing to get reporters access

(via REUTERS)

A new video has emerged of Donald Trump joking about the treatment of the press by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s security guards.

The footage, from a pro-Trump Instagram account, is believed to be from a fundraiser for the Republican Party held on 17 April at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

According to The Uprising, other speakers at the event included Florida governor Ron DeSantis and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo — both seen as potential presidential candidates in 2024.

In the clip, Mr Trump is standing at a podium regaling the crowd with the story of his meeting with the North Korean dictator.

“He’s not big on press coming in. I don’t think he’d ever done it before,” the former president says.

“And the press came in and they were rough, not so much with him — even not so much with me — but the way they poured in physically, they tried to push guards down. And fortunately, these were North Korean guards. They didn’t get pushed down.”

“It was a rough kind of a day for the press,” he adds after chuckling along with the audience.

Mr Trump has a history of joking about violence against journalists, protesters, and political opponents.

Maggie Haberman of The New York Times offers a different recollection of the events the former president is referring to in his remarks.

She notes on Twitter that the confrontation with North Korean security occurred when his then-press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, pushed to ensure that the White House pool could have access to the leaders to observe what was happening.

Video from The Washington Post shows North Korean security guards trying to block US media access and Ms Grisham scuffling to ensure reporters could get to the room where the leaders were meeting during the 30 June 2019 summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The shaky footage shows reporters and White House aides rushing by North Korean guards through the lobby of the meeting venue as guards try to obstruct their progress.