President Donald Trump blew up the internet after calling an African reporter “beautiful” during an Oval Office meeting Friday with officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.
The DRC’s White House reporter, Hariana Verás Victória , was at the meeting with Trump following a peace treaty signing by DRC Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner and her Rwandan counterpart, Olivier Nduhungirehe.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had invited her “friend” Verás Victória to participate in the event, according to BuzzFeed. The reporter told Trump that people in the DRC were grateful for the work he is doing to help bring peace to their country.
And Trump couldn’t help himself.
“That’s so nice,” he said, before mentioning he was asked not to comment on Verás Victória’s appearance. “That’s so beautifully stated. Karoline said this, number one, she did say that I shouldn’t say this because it’s politically incorrect, she said, ‘She’s beautiful.’ And you are beautiful!”
He said it anyway, and the reporter laughed at the compliment while others in the meeting smiled.
“I’m not allowed to say that, you know that?” Trump continued. “It could be the end of my political career, but I’ll say it anyway. You are beautiful, and you’re beautiful inside. I wish I had more reporters like you.”
As expected, a clip of the interaction went viral, and social media erupted.
“Trump weirdly calls a reporter ‘beautiful’ mid interview, despite warnings from his press secretary not to. Actual creep behavior,” a Reddit user said.
“If Barack did this… Lord have mercy,” one Instagram user said. “Before you easily impressionable folks think this is cute, imagine Obama calling a whyte woman reporter cute! Let me know how you think that would go! Stop holding him to a different standard!” another user wrote.
Also, during the meeting with Trump, Verás Victória told Trump that the president of DRC is considering nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring peace to the region.
“They have hope now for a better day in Congo,” she told the President.
The Trump administration helped broker the peace deal, but questions remain about whether the agreement can help quell the decades-long violence in eastern Congo as a militia backed by Rwanda is still occupying parts of DRC amid violent and bloody clashes, according to CNN.
It’s unclear whether the militias have agreed to end the fighting and whether the two nations can help the U.S. government and American businesses access critical minerals in the region, NBC News reported.
