Donald Trump suggested the US would try to reclaim an Afghan airbase, confused Armenia with Albania, and claimed not to know Lord Peter Mandelson as he gave a press conference at the end of his state visit.
The occasionally erratic president kept largely on message during his appearance at Chequers, thanking both Sir Keir Starmer and the King for their hospitality and praising the UK-US relationship.
But in a press conference in the great hall at Chequers, he also said the US government wants to secure the return of Bagram airbase in Afghanistan because it is near Chinese nuclear weapons facilities.
He said the airfield, which was a major base for the US military during the Afghanistan war, had been “given away for nothing” by his predecessor Joe Biden.
He said: “We’re trying to get it back, by the way, that could be a little breaking news.
“We’re trying to get it back, because they need things from us. We want that base back, but one of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons.”
Trumpeting his claim to have resolved seven wars, he appeared to confuse Armenia with Albania, saying the Balkan country had been at war with Azerbaijan.
It was in fact Armenia that formally agreed a peace deal with Azerbaijan at the White House last month.
Answering a question from an American journalist, he went on the criticise the use of an “autopen” during Mr Biden’s presidency, accusing his opponents in Congress of destroying evidence it was used “illegally”.
He said: “The people that used it, and one in particular, one person was never told by Biden to do it, only spoke to Biden twice, and that was just talking about the weather, not talking about any order.
“He was taking orders from people other than Joe Biden. Joe Biden wasn’t giving those orders.”
Mr Trump added: “The autopen was illegal. It was illegally used. He never gave the orders. He never told them what to do. And I guess the only one he signed, or one of the few he signed, was the pardon for his son.
“But you had the congressman who, when they got the information, they found out they were guilty, and they deleted and destroyed all information, everything, you couldn’t get any of it.
Discussing conservative figure Charlie Kirk, who was shot dead last week at a university in Utah, Mr Trump said he had told the activist he could one day be president.
He said: “Some people said he might be president someday. I told him, I said: ‘Charlie, I think you have a good shot someday at being president’.”
And answering the final question on Sir Keir’s decision to sack Lord Mandelson over his links to deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a man Mr Trump had also been connected with, the president claimed not to know the former ambassador to the US.
He said: “I don’t know him actually, I had heard that, and I think maybe the Prime Minister would be better speaking of that. It was a choice that he made and I don’t know.”
Earlier, he had joked with his treasury secretary Scott Bessent and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick about whether he should sign a technology partnership with the UK.
Pausing before he signed the document, Mr Trump said: “Should I sign this Howard? Scott? If the deal’s no good I’m blaming you.”
