President Trump recalled his one-time friendship with Oprah Winfrey at a campaign rally recently where he told supporters that the talk-show host was a frequent guest at his Florida golf course and loved the key lime pie.
“She used to go to Mar-a-Lago. She loved me until I decided to run for office“ Trump said at a rally in Louisiana.
Trump added that Winfrey and her friends, former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama, had supported Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams in the Georgia governor’s race last year. Despite the star power, Trump noted that Abrams lost to Brian Kemp, the candidate he supported.
Despite their political differences, Trump and Winfrey enjoyed a close friendship in the past, with Trump famously declaring in 1999 that if he ever ran for president, he’d want Winfrey as his running mate.
“I love Oprah, she would always be my first choice. … I’ll tell ya, she’s really a great woman, though. She is a terrific woman. She’s somebody that’s very special” Trump told CNN’s Larry King back then.
Trump and his family appeared on Oprah’s talk show in 2011, but the friendship soured after Winfrey publicly backed Barack Obama for president in 2008.