President Donald Trump poked fun at himself and members of his administration who have given him grief at an annual Washington social event Saturday, joking about former chief strategist Steve Bannon, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and even first lady Melania Trump.
At the Gridiron Club Dinner on Saturday night, a white-tie event typically including both journalists and politicians, and features jokes about both sides of the aisle, the President made light of a public feud with his attorney general, an embarrassing demotion of sorts for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and any possible tension in his marriage over alleged affairs.
“So many people have been leaving the White House,” Trump joked. “It’s actually been really exciting and invigorating ’cause you want new thoughts. So I like turnover. I like chaos. It is really good. Now, the question everybody keeps asking: Who’s going to be the next to leave, Steve Miller or Melania?”
Saturday was a rare appearance for the President, who has avoided events in the past where he might mingle with the media or Washington establishment. The annual closed-door dinner, hosted by the exclusive group of top Washington journalists, traditionally includes a night of jokes, skits and musical numbers.
Trump apologized for his late arrival to the dinner, joking that they were held up because his son-in-law couldn’t get through security, a nod to Kushner recently losing his top security clearance as a senior adviser.
The President took jabs at another attendee in the audience, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whom he had publicly lambasted on Twitter earlier this week.
“I offered a ride over and he recused himself,” said Trump, referring to Sessions’ decision to remove himself from the Justice Department’s Russia investigation, which upset Trump so much he once asked for Sessions’ resignation, according to The New York Times.
Any sort of anger and frustration Trump might have felt over this past week, whether over Sessions’ decision to leave an investigation into alleged surveillance abuses to the Justice Department’s watchdog, a report that at least four nations sought to exploit Kushner, or the resignation of one of his closest aides, Hope Hicks, Trump didn’t show it.
“My staff was concerned that I couldn’t do self-deprecating humor, and I told them not to worry, nobody does self deprecating humor better than me,” Trump said.