Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed Australia's ambassador to the US, former prime minister Kevin Rudd, after the latter's tense exchange with Donald Trump in a landmark meeting yesterday.
Albanese told Today this morning that it was a "warm meeting" conducted across several hours, which ended in an $8.5 billion critical minerals deal as well as Trump's vocal backing for the AUKUS agreement.
"He's a friend of Australia," Albanese said.
However, the meeting hit a sour note when Trump was asked about since-deleted comments Rudd made online prior to his ambassadorial appointment, in which the former PM said Trump was "destructive" and "a traitor to the West".
"I don't like you, and I probably never will," Trump said to Rudd at yesterday's meeting, prompting laug