By James Oliphant
(Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tried to poke fun at his opponent Democrat Kamala Harris and embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams while touching upon his own legal troubles in a somewhat light-hearted speech at a charity gala on Thursday.
“It’s really a pleasure (to be) anywhere in New York without a subpoena for my appearance,” Trump told the gathering at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City.
The annual Al Smith dinner, which benefits Catholic charities, is a New York bipartisan tradition that attracts the city’s elite and extends back almost 80 years. In the past it has been known for being an evening when candidates could gently mock themselves and their opponents.
As Trump began his remarks, he turned to Adams, who has been indicted on federal corruption charges, and said, “Good luck with everything.”
Harris was the first major party presidential candidate since Democrat Walter Mondale in 1984 to skip the event. Instead, the vice president campaigned in Wisconsin, a crucial battleground state.
Gentle mockery, however, isn’t quite in Trump’s nature. He blasted Harris for the no-show and noted that Mondale was trounced by Republican Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential contest.
“It shows you there is a God,” he joked to applause.
Harris addressed the crowd in a pre-recorded video, saying: “In the spirit of tonight’s dinner, let us recommit to reaching across divides, to seek understanding and common ground.”
Later, Trump joked that Harris would have come if the charitable funds from the event were earmarked for “the looters and rioters in Minneapolis” – a reference to the 2020 racial justice protests after the death of George Floyd. Several in the audience booed.
Melania Trump, the former first lady, made a rare appearance alongside her husband. It was the first time the two were together at a political event since the Republican National Convention in July.
Melania Trump released a memoir last month in which she detailed her support for abortion rights, a position at odds with Donald Trump’s public stance.
Trump was criticized for using the 2016 dinner as a vehicle to attack his then-opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, rather than keeping the proceedings light-hearted.
He seemed to struggle again with that on Thursday.
“Tradition holds that I’m supposed to tell you a few self-deprecating jokes this evening,” he said. “Nope, I’ve got nothing.”
Also attending the dinner were Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the former independent presidential candidate who dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump, and Letitia James, the New York attorney general who brought a massive civil fraud case against Trump’s companies that resulted in a judgment of more than $450 million.
Trump still faces federal and state charges for interfering with the 2020 election.
Heavily Democratic New York state is not considered to be a battleground that will determine the 2024 election, but Trump has been spending an unusual amount of time there. He held a rally on Long Island in September and is scheduled to hold an event at Madison Square Garden later this month.
The dinner, however, is also a way to reach Catholic voters, an important swing constituency nationally. Trump leads Harris among Catholic voters in battleground states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania by 5 percentage points, according to a poll released this week by the National Catholic Reporter.
Nationally, the race remains close, with the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showing Harris in the lead 45% to 42%.
(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Kim Coghill)
