Former President Donald Trump speaks at the America First Policy Institute in Washington, DC, on July 26, 2022.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Trump mistook a racially diverse group of congressional aides for waitstaff in 2017.
Then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus had to save the president from the gaffe, according to a new book by NYT’s Maggie Haberman.
Trump also accused “illegals” of making him lose the popular vote in 2016, per Haberman’s book.
Former President Donald Trump mistook a group of Democratic congressional staffers for waitstaff and directed them to serve dinner during the early years of his presidency, according to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman’s new book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.”
The book notes that the aides — part of Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s staff — were a racially diverse group at the White House for a 2017 reception with Trump, according to Rolling Stone, who reviewed Haberman’s book, set to be released Oct. 4.
Trump faced the staffers and asked them, “Why don’t you get” the food, according to the book, before former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus corrected the president and fetched the actual waitstaff.
In the same meeting, Trump left the room silent after he said his loss of the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016 was due to “illegals” or undocumented immigrants casting ballots.
Pelosi verbally disagreed with the statement, Rolling Stone reported.
Although Trump has long defended his relationship with the Black community, Latino community, and other marginalized groups, he has a long history of racist and inflammatory comments directed towards both.
Most famously, Trump promoted conspiracy theories that former President Barack Obama was not born in America. Trump also railed against immigrants from Central and South America, and previously expressed disdain about “s-hole” countries in Africa.
Trump has also been sued by the DOJ, which alleged that he and his father discriminated against their Black tenants in the 1970s and violated the 1968 fair housing act. The Trumps settled the case.
Haberman’s new book reveals insider details of Trump’s time in the White House, including a moment where he told aides that he wouldn’t leave the White House after 2020 election and claims that he called Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis “fat” and “whiny” in private.
Representatives for Pelosi, Schumer, and Trump did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.