Mayor swears at journalist over questions about Trump dinner

A Queensland mayor has told a journalist to “f--- off” after he was questioned over a dinner with Donald Trump, which the White House has denied.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate claimed he had dinner with the US president, first lady Melania Trump, the president’s son Eric Trump and Eric’s wife Lara at Mar-a-Lago in Florida in February.

He told radio station Triple M they had tomahawk steaks, drank expensive wine and marvelled at “how beautiful Melania is in real life”.

“I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just go slow at pulling out my wallet’, and they beat me to it,” Tate said.

He said the US president was “very likeable” in real life and it was apparent that “he does his homework”.

“First thing, he shook my hand and he goes, ‘Mr Mayor, you’re very welcome to our residence in Mar-a-Lago’,” he said.

“I just felt like he knew who I was.”

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The Trump Organisation said in a statement provided to the ABC that the mayor’s “account of what occurred is a complete fabrication”.

“Any suggestion that the President had dinner with Mayor Tate, or that he attended an event that was directly or indirectly connected to or associated with Mayor Tate or his event, is categorically false,” the statement said.

Tate’s business associate Roland Evans told 9News they did have dinner with the US president, the Gold Coast mayor shook hands with him, and he gave him a signed hat.

The Gold Coast mayor claims he funded the trip to Mar-a-Lago himself.

A reporter from the ABC questioned Tate over the trip on Tuesday.

“Was it always your intention to personally pay for that trip?” the reporter asked.

“Yes,” Tate said.

“And how much would it have cost you?” the reporter responded.

“Isn’t it private?” Tate said.

“Well, did you get mates’ rates?” the reporter said.

“No,” Tate said.

“OK, so how much did you pay roughly then? Just so we can understand,” the reporter said.

Tate continued to insist the figure was private, before he asked, “are you from the ABC?”

When the journalist responded “yes”, Tate said, “Yeah, f--- off, I’ve had enough of you”, and walked out of the press conference.

Following the exchange, Gold Coast Deputy Mayor Mark Hammel said Tate’s language was not appropriate.

“That’s not appropriate behaviour in any circumstance,” Hammel said.

“I appreciate the mayor was worked up, but that’s not appropriate language.

“You’ve got a job to do as journalists to ask questions.”

Tate did not return to the press conference or apologise to the ABC journalist.