Former President Trump said Tuesday that he could pursue expelling the Australian ambassador if he was elected to a second term, hitting back at one of his prominent vocal critics.
In a GB News interview with former British politician Nigel Farage, Trump called out the former Australian prime minister-turned-ambassador, Kevin Rudd.
“I don’t know. He won’t be there long if that’s the case,” Trump said when asked for his response to the criticism. “I don’t know much about him. I heard he was a little bit nasty. I hear he’s not the brightest bulb. But I don’t know much about him.”
“But if he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long,” he added.
Rudd, who was appointed to be ambassador in March of last year, railed against Trump before taking the office. In a pair of 2020 posts on X, then known as Twitter, Rudd called Trump “the most destructive president in history”.
“He drags America and democracy through the mud. He thrives on fomenting, not healing, division. He abuses Christianity, church and bible to justify violence,” he wrote. In a separate post, he claimed Trump is “a traitor to the West.”
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong defended Rudd on Wednesday, telling reporters the government had no plans to remove him.
“Mr. Rudd is a very effective ambassador,” she said, according to Reuters. “He is recognized across this Parliament as doing an excellent job in advancing Australia’s interests in the United States.”
Rudd’s tenure as ambassador has been highlighted by the lauded submarine partnership between Australia, the U.K. and the U.S., which each country’s leaders have held up as a major step forward in their military alliance.