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Casting doubt on whether his past description of Mr Trump as “a village idiot” and a threat to global democracy is no big deal, a smiling Mr Trump suggested that Australia’s former Prime Minister is still in the doghouse. Speaking outside the White House as he prepared to depart for Malaysia, the Mr Trump has been bounced by an Australian reporter on the interaction this week that sparked global headlines. In a meeting at the White House, the President told Australia’s Ambassador to the US, “I don’t like you, and I probably never will.” After the incident, Mr Rudd reportedly offered a sincere apology to Mr Trump, who accepted it. “And you’ve patched things up with our Ambassador — the Australian Ambassador?” Australian reporter Michael Koziol asked. “No — I don’t know anything about him,” Mr Trump replied. “Did you tell him all was forgiven in the meeting?” Koziol asked. “I think he, a long time ago, said something bad,” Mr Trump said before adding, “You know when they said bad about me, I don’t forget.” Mr Trump said he was still in the process of choosing a US Ambassador to Australia, suggesting he wanted to find one that Mr Albanese “likes”. “Well I’m talking to your leader — he was just here and he’s a great guy and we’re going to make sure we have somebody that he likes,” he said. “I had one or two people. I didn’t know if they would like them. I do I have somebody in mind. Here’s the good news, everybody wants to be ambassador to Australia.” Earlier this week Mr Trump called Koziol, who works for The Sydney Morning Herald, “nasty” for trying to sneak in two questions. After Mr Trump and Mr Rudd spoke during a press conference, Australian officials present at the meeting have told news.com.au there was a further exchange after the press conference. “Is this the guy?” Mr Trump asked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he pointed to Mr Rudd while the media was being ushered out of the room. “He seems like a nice guy,” he quipped. Eyewitnesses say that Mr Albanese said Mr Rudd was a nice guy, prompting more laughter. “All is forgiven,” Mr Trump said after subjecting him to global humiliation during the televised press conference. Officials present say that Mr Rudd then offered another “genuine” apology for his past remarks. ‘Untenable’: Huge call as Rudd humiliated Liberal leader Sussan Ley has described the situation with Mr Rudd as “untenable” urging Mr Albanese to recall him as US Ambassador. Before becoming Australia’s envoy in Washington, the former PM had called Mr Trump a “village idiot” and “traitor to the West”. The interaction has taken the internet by storm, with commentators and reporters around the world sharing the moment. Ms Ley, however, didn’t see the funny side. “It’s taken nearly a year to get this meeting, and that’s been a failure of the Ambassador,” Ms Ley told Sky News. “And when the Ambassador is the punchline of the joke and the Prime Minister is actually laughing at him, I think that tells us all we need to know about the fact that it’s probably not reasonable that he continue in the role. “I don’t believe he should stay in that role. And to see the Prime Minister actually laughing at his own ambassador in the room when the President made a joke, I think it’s untenable.” Will Australia now sack Kevin Rudd? Australia’s former Ambassador the US Arthur Sinodinos has weighed in on the agonising exchange over Kevin Rudd. Speaking on Nine’s Today program, host Karl Stefanovic pointed to the “deliciously awkward” moment but Mr Sinodinos suggested Mr Albanese would not be rushing to dump the Ambassador. “Look, you know, in this business, you live by the sword, you die by the sword,” Mr Sinodinos said. “Clearly, some remarks that Kevin had made in the past got picked up by the President, or he was reminded of them and made his views very clear. “I don’t think this means that Prime Minister Albanese is about to junk the Ambassador or anything like that. They’re very close, and it would look as if he was succumbing to pressure to do that. “But look, overall a very positive day for Australia. I think in the US without the Prime Minister having to sort of be too obsequious. “So I think it was handled well. And the critical minerals deal meant there was something positive they could announce, and I think that created the right atmosphere for the deal. “Big bonus for us is that AUKUS got a mention and that [the] President indicated he was very much on side about getting AUKUS done, took ownership of it by saying, ‘The previous lot were too slow on this, I’m going to fix this and accelerate it.’ “It’s fantastic that they’ve said what they’ve said about AUKUS. So good day in Washington.”
