/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55273397/GettyImages_680330446.0.jpg)
Footage of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull publicly mocking President Trump has just leaked, and it’s worth watching.
Turnbull and Trump had met on the deck of the aircraft carrier Intrepid in New York last month. At the time, Trump told reporters that he and Turnbull have a “fantastic relationship.” In the leaked video, Turnbull relayed his own sarcastic interpretation of the meeting: “It was beautiful. It was the most beautiful put-me-at-ease ever.”
Turnbull went even further when he made fun of the investigation into the Trump team’s connections with Russia, saying, “I have this Russian guy. Believe me, it's true; it is true.”
The remarks at the Australian Parliament’s annual midwinter ball were supposed to be off the record, but the TV station Nine News Australia released the footage. In the video, Turnbull mimics Trump’s exaggerated hand gestures and steals his lines — “The Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls. We are winning so much! We are winning like we have never won before.”
Here’s the leaked video:
Vision has surfaced of Malcolm Turnbull mocking U.S. President Donald Trump. @LaurieOakes broke the story on https://t.co/HTuswl1ECx. #9News pic.twitter.com/qWoy91LpKB
— Nine News Australia (@9NewsAUS) June 15, 2017
The relationship between the two leaders got off on the wrong foot in February when Trump used a phone call with Turnbull to blast the Australian prime minister over a refugee resettlement agreement with the US. During the Obama administration, the United States had pledged to take in 1,250 refugees from an Australian detention center.
The conversation was supposed to last for an hour but ended after just 25 minutes, according to the Washington Post. A few days after the call, Trump posted a tweet deriding the agreement as "dumb deal."
After the two men met last month, they both said they had mended their relationship and moved past the phone call. But it seems Turnbull still isn’t over it.
Turnbull’s speech was supposed to be confidential and not broadcast to the world. In an interview with Melbourne's 3AW radio after the video leaked, the prime minister downplayed his jokes and said that he was actually making fun of himself, not Trump. “It's a good-humored roast," said Turnbull, according to the BBC. "My speech was affectionately light-hearted."
Because of the leak and “breach of protocol,” Turnbull joked that he will just “read selected passages from budget paper number two” at next year’s midwinter ball.