Hillary Clinton has revealed what former President Barack Obama said after Michelle Obama appeared to take a swipe at President Donald Trump.
The moment unfolded during the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.
But according to Clinton, what Barack Obama said next was even funnier than the exchange that went viral.
The former secretary of state recounted the exchange during Friday’s episode of the “Pivot” podcast, revisiting a moment that drew widespread attention in June.
Clinton, who ran against Trump in 2016, said she was seated directly behind the 44th president during the June 18 dedication ceremony when his wife began ticking through his achievements.
“Michelle Obama was giving this incredibly clever speech, touting all of Barack’s many accomplishments,” Clinton recalled.
According to the former New York senator, the moment that stood out came when the former first lady mentioned that her husband had won a Nobel Prize.
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“And then, of course, you received a Nobel Peace Prize,” Clinton recalled her saying. “I burst into laughter. He started to giggle.”
She then leaned forward and joked with the former president, “I poked him in the back and I said, ‘Oh my God, I am sure Trump is watching this. He thinks he’s now in the third circle of hell.'”
Obama’s response, she said, was brief: “He goes, ‘Yeah, I hope he is.’ It was great.” The behind-the-scenes exchange delighted social media users. On Threads, one person said, “What a Great Story…and the great meme for us all?”
Someone else thought, “I think this is EXACTLY how they talk!!!!! And we ALL know that line in Michelle Obama’s speech was a direct jab at ‘dear leader!!'”
“She’s so sharp. I will always be salty she didn’t become president,” one wrote.
“Can we finally admit that Hillary Clinton was right when she called MAGA ‘a basket of deplorables?'” another wrote.
Many weighed in on Facebook as well.
“God is so refreshing to see politicians smiling and laughing,” one wrote.
Another wrote, “I can’t see this picture without hearing her laugh. I still want that sound as a text notification on my phone.” A third said, “Those two are sorely missed.”
During the June 18 opening ceremony, the former first lady told her husband: “You were doing the people’s work, rescuing our economy, expanding health care, ending a war, ordering the bin Laden raid, saving an auto industry, winning a peace prize.”
The final line drew applause and laughter from the audience, including Clinton, and quickly went viral online as observers read it as a reference to Trump’s long-running Nobel Peace Prize grievances and his belief that he hasn’t received sufficient recognition for his foreign policy record.
Trump has repeatedly argued that he deserves the honor, citing diplomatic agreements and conflict-resolution efforts from his time in office, and has contrasted his lack of the prize with his predecessor’s 2009 award.
The exchange came just days after Trump appeared to melt down around the time of the Obama Center’s looming debut.
On June 13, he posted an AI-generated image on Truth Social depicting the $850 million campus as a garbage-strewn wasteland, writing it would become “a ‘Mecca’ for those who hate America” within a decade. The post landed hours after his own name was controversially stripped from the Kennedy Center, a coincidence critics say fueled the outburst.
Unlike a traditional presidential library, the 19-acre South Side campus was designed as a public gathering space rather than a records archive; most of the former president’s official documents were digitized, with physical originals stored in Maryland.
The site includes a museum, basketball court, gardens, and a 225-foot tower nicknamed the “Obamalisk.” Advisers say the goal was something “democratic in nature” that invites the public in rather than a monument that sits apart from the community.
Trump has since unveiled his own competing vision — a glitzy presidential library planned for downtown Miami, complete with gold-draped Oval Office replicas and space to house the Qatari jet gifted to him. He’s called his predecessor’s building “unattractive” and “seriously over budget.”
Despite the rivalry, Obama has repeatedly been singled out as the one willing to engage Trump with basic civility in public. That was particularly noticeable at Jimmy Carter’s funeral, where the two men were seen chatting and laughing while seated next to each other as several other former presidents kept their distance.
For the two former Democratic standard-bearers, Friday’s podcast revelation offered something a little different: a private joke unfolding in the middle of a very public ceremony — and a punchline from the former president that the cameras didn’t catch.
