U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon arrival for meetings at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump scolded reporters who he said suggested that he was trying to bribe them by providing lunch at Mar-a-Lago.
After taking a brief question-and-answer session with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Trump suggested he would serve lunch to the reporters.
"We're going to have a big meeting, and we'll see you in a couple of hours if you'd like," he explained. "And if you'd like, you can come up and have lunch like you did yesterday. Would you like that or not? Do you want that? Because some of them think it's terrible, it's a bribe!"
"But, you know, a bribe for $25, I don't know," he continued. If you'd like, you can go, and if you don't, you can stand in a driveway and melt."
Trump concluded by asserting that his staff was "too nice" to the correspondents.