Former President Donald Trump received some boos from the crowd after delivering a series of jokes at the Al Smith charity dinner in New York City, which included mocking Vice President Kamala Harris for her absence.
There was a smattering of boos mixed with mainly applause and cheers as Trump finished delivering his remarks at the annual white-tie event which raises money for Catholic charities. A number of New York Democratic figures such as Senator Chuck Schumer, Attorney General Letitia James, Governor Kathy Hochul, and embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams were present at the dinner.
Trump’s one-liners attacking Harris and other Democrats got a mixed reaction at times from the crowd. The former president hit out at the “idiots that gave me this stuff” after one joke about Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff’s previous extramarital affair was met with groans.
Harris was not at the annual gala and she was campaigning in the key swing state of Michigan. Harris appeared via video link in a sketch alongside comedian Molly Shannon portraying her Saturday Night Live character Mary Katherine Gallagher, who is a Catholic schoolgirl.
Harris also received some boos from the crowd when it was announced on stage that the Democratic presidential nominee was not appearing at the event in person. Harris’s campaign team said Trump’s speech at the Al Smith dinner contained “incomprehensible rambles, reminding Americans how unstable he’s become.”
Newsweek has contacted Trump’s campaign team for comment via email.
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the 79th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Hilton Midtown in New York, October 17, 2024. Some audience members booed Trump… Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the 79th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Hilton Midtown in New York, October 17, 2024. Some audience members booed Trump when he finished he speech at the event.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images
During his speech, Trump mixed jokes with appeals to voters with the election less than three weeks away.
“If you really wanted Vice President Harris to accept your invitation, I guess you should have told her the funds were going to bail out the looters and rioters in Minneapolis and she would have been here, guaranteed,” said Trump, in reference to the protests which took place in wake of George Floyd’s murder in May 2020.
“You better remember that I’m here and she’s not.”
Trump used the vice president’s absence to attack the cognitive ability of President Joe Biden, which the Republican frequently did when the president was still in the 2024 race.
“If the Democrats really wanted to have someone not be with us this evening, they would have sent Joe Biden,” Trump said.
The former president also referred to the affair Emhoff admitted having during his first marriage and the unconfirmed reports the woman was a nanny to Emhoff’s children.
“The only piece of advice I would have for [Harris] in the event that she wins is not to let her husband Doug anywhere near the nannies,” Trump said, resulting in groans and gasps from the audience.
“That’s a nasty one. I told these idiots that gave me this stuff, that’s too tough,” Trump added.
Trump was met with a mixed reaction when he made a transgender joke while discussing Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
“Unfortunately, Governor Walz isn’t here himself, but don’t worry, he’ll say that he was,” Trump said, in reference to Walz falsely stating he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing in 1989.
“I used to think the Democrats were crazy for saying that men had periods, but then I met Tim Walz,” Trump said.
Harris ridiculed Trump during her sketch which was streamed at the event. The vice president told Shannon’s character she would not make jokes poking fun at Catholics at the gala as that would be “like criticizing Detroit in Detroit,” which the former president recently did at a campaign event in Michigan.
Comedian Jim Gaffigan also made reference to the Access Hollywood tape—where Trump was recorded boasting that he can grab women “by the p****” in 2005—while mocking the former president for pushing the false claim that migrants were eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio.
“During the first and only debate, President Trump talked about migrants taking cats and eating them,” Gaffigan said. “You know, if you’re keeping track at home, this is the second time grabbing a kitty has been part of a campaign issue.”
After a shocked reaction from the crowd, Gaffigan said: “You know, I was going to leave that one out.”
Trump’s wife, former First Lady Melania Trump, was sat nearby when Gaffigan made the joke about the Access Hollywood tape.
In a statement, Ammar Moussa, rapid response director for Harris’s campaign, said: “Donald Trump struggled to read scripted notes written by his handlers, repeatedly complaining that he couldn’t use a teleprompter.
“He stumbled over his words and lashed out when the crowd wouldn’t laugh with him. The rare moments he was off script, he went on long incomprehensible rambles, reminding Americans how unstable he’s become. And of course, he made it all about himself.”
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