Australian PM roasts Trump at ball

Turnbull says speech to journalists was ‘ affectionately light- hearted’

Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull has taken a comical swipe at US President Donald Trump, mimicking his mannerisms and making reference to the Russia scandal, in comments he said were “light- hearted.”

In a leaked audio recording, Turnbull is heard making fun of the US president’s idiosyncratic speaking style.

“The Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls,” Turnbull said in a closed event for journalists in Canberra on Wednesday.

“We are winning so much. We are winning like we have never won before.

“We are. We are. Not the fake polls. Not the fake polls. They’re the ones we are not winning in,” he said to laughs from the audience at the Mid- Winter Ball, where politicians and Canberra journalists let their hair down. “We are winning in the real polls. You know, the online polls. They are so easy to win.”

Typically, the event is off- the- record, but a recording was leaked to the political editor at broadcaster Channel Nine, who did not attend the ball and decided to report it.

Turnbull played down the speech late Thursday, saying that he was the butt of the jokes rather than Trump. “My speech was light- hearted, affectionately light- hearted,” he told Melbourne’s 3AW radio. “It’s a breach of protocol, it’s a breach of faith,” he added.

“But it’s light- hearted, it’s affectionate and the butt of my jokes was myself.”

In a statement cited by Channel Nine, the US Embassy in Canberra said they saw the lighter- side of the address.

“We understand that last night’s event is equivalent to our own White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” it read.

“We take this with the good humor that was intended.”

Last month, Turnbull met the US president in New York to mend fences, after the bad- tempered call early in Trump’s White House tenure. Trump reportedly exploded and cut short the conversation when he was told about a Barack Obama- era deal to move refugees from Australia to America.

The Australian leader appeared to make light of that icy conversation. “It was beautiful. It was the most beautiful putting- me- at- ease ever,” he said.

In another leaked clip, Turnbull poked fun at the controversy surrounding the Trump administration’s ties to Russia. “I have this Russian guy. Believe me, it is true. It is true,” Turnbull said.