President Trump said the head of the Boy Scouts called his recent address “the greatest speech that was ever made to them,” days before the chief scout executive apologized for the president’s remarks.
Trump faced criticism for the speech last Monday, which many saw as inappropriately political for the jamboree setting.
Trump denied to The Wall Street Journal that there was any “mixed” reaction to his speech, noting the standing ovations from the crowd. His comments to the Journal were first made public in a transcript of the interview Politico published Tuesday.
“And I got a call from the head of the Boy Scouts saying it was the greatest speech that was ever made to them, and they were very thankful,” Trump said. “So there was — there was no mix.”
{mosads}Michael Surbaugh, leader of the Boy Scouts of America, apologized last week for those “who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree.”
“We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program,” Surbaugh said.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to apologize for Trump’s speech last week.
Trump told a long story to the scouts about spending time at yachts and cocktail parties “with the hottest people in New York” during the speech and got the crowd to boo former President Obama.
“And by the way, I’d be the first to admit mixed. I’m a guy that will tell you mixed. There was no mix there,” Trump said during the interview. “That was a standing ovation from the time I walked out to the time I left, and for five minutes after I had already gone. There was no mix.”