President Donald Trump offered his condolences following shootings at Brown University, Bondi Beach and in Syria before his unscripted remarks at a Christmas reception at the White House.
The president addressed a room full of supporters for more than 40 minutes Sunday as First Lady Melania Trump stood by his side.
“I just want to pay my respects, unfortunately,” Trump said. “Two who are no longer with us. Brown University, nine injured. Two are looking down on us from heaven.”
The shooting, which took place on the Ivy League college’s Providence campus on Saturday, left two dead and nine people wounded. After embarking on a multi-agency manhunt, authorities said they have a person of interest in custody.
“Likewise in Australia, as you know there was a terrible attack,” the president added. “That was an antisemitic attack, obviously. I just want to pay my respects to everybody.”
On Sunday evening, 15 people were killed and at least 29 were injured when two gunmen opened fire at an event called Chanukah by the Sea in Bondi Beach, Sydney. One of the suspected attackers was detained and the other is dead.
On Saturday, a man killed two U.S. service members and one American civilian and wounded three others in the Syrian desert near the historic city of Palmyra.
Trump has vowed to retaliate.
“I must say, in Syria, also, we had an attack in Syria,” Trump continued. “We had three great patriots terminated by bad people … But I just want to pay my respects to the families.”
After addressing the three incidents, the president delved into a lengthy, off-the-cuff rant, and at one discussed venomous snakes for roughly 10 minutes.
He told the story of a White House physician, Dr. James Jones, who was bitten by a viper while hiking in Peru with former President Barack Obama’s daughters. Jones lost consciousness several times but eventually recovered after months of rehabilitation.
“It’s known for being a rather rough place in terms of physical creatures crawling around,” the 79-year-old president said of the South American nation.
“It’s funny when you talk about snakes and things like that, people find it interesting,” Trump said to a hushed room. “Would anybody like to go to Peru and walk around the forest? No thank you, I’ll say no thank you.”
He acknowledged the snake anecdote was “a terrible Christmas story, but it’s a hell of story.”
“I’m fascinated by stories of wildlife because I have a theory: wildlife always wins,” he said. “The power is incredible of animals.”
Later in his speech, he again brought up false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and “rigged” against him.
“The election was rigged in 2020,” Trump said. “We have all the ammunition, all the stuff, and you’ll see it come out. It’s coming out in truckloads.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the election — which he lost to former President Joe Biden — was fraudulent.
Minutes later, he boasted that he could win the state of California, a reliable Democratic stronghold, if not for Democratic meddling.
“If the vote in California was legitimate, which it’s not … it’s a rigged election in California because we would win California by a lot,” Trump said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom quickly responded to the remark in a post on X, writing, “Hahahahahahahahaha ok.”
Trump again veered off script when he noticed a woman in the audience, whom he said bore a striking resemblance to his eldest daughter.
“Boy do you look like Ivanka, has anyone ever told you that?” Trump said, pointing at the woman and asking her to turn around for the camera. “It’s the most unbelievable thing. You look just like Ivanka, which is a great compliment.”
