CELEBRATING CHANUKAH THE TRUMP WAY

Donald Trump celebrates Hanukkah with Laura Loomer and by telling White House guests Ilhan Omar 'hates Jewish people'

 

By Nikki Schwab 

 

Daily Mail

Dec 16, 2025

President Donald Trump said at Tuesday night's Hanukkah reception that Representative Ilhan Omar 'hates Jewish people,' again hitting the Minnesota Democrat after a nasty attack on her last week in Pennsylvania.Trump is pictured with Rabbi Levi Shemtov during the Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House

 

President Donald Trump marked the third night of Hanukkah by celebrating at the White House with conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer and other, less controversial, allies in the Jewish community. 

'I will always be a friend and a champion to the Jewish people,' he told a crowd gathered in the White House's East Room. 

Despite it being billed as a festive affair, Trump took a whack at some of his political nemeses.

Trump twice told a story to the crowd about how the strongest lobby in Washington was previously the Jewish or pro-Israel lobby. 

'That's no longer true. You have to be very careful. You have a Congress, in particular, which is becoming antisemitic,' he said. 

'You have AOC plus three,' he continued, referencing Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the original makeup of 'the squad,' a quartet of female progressive members of color who were elected during Trump's first term.

'Ilhan Omar, she hates Jewish people,' the president then said.

He's heightened his rhetoric against the Minnesota Democrat, a Muslim who was born in Somalia, mocking her 'little turban' during his campaign-like speech in Pennsylvania last week, and pushing the rumor that she married her brother to help him get immigration status in the U.S. 

 

Laura Loomer (left), a conspiracy theorist who has become an influential adviser of President Donald Trump outside of government, was invited to Tuesday night's Hanukkah reception at the White House 

 

When Omar first came to Congress in 2019, she was forced to apologize after using Jewish stereotypes in remarks about Republican support for Israel. 

In recent years, she's spoken out against Israel's killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, with a number of her Democratic colleagues joining the choir. 

On Tuesday night, several Jewish Democratic lawmakers joined Trump in the crowd, including Representatives Josh Gottheimer and Jared Moskowitz. 

 

President Donald Trump has repeatedly gone after Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, who is Muslim and was born in Somalia. Last week he mocked her 'little turban' at a rally-like event in Pennsylvania  

 

Trump started the event by paying tribute to the victims in the Bondi Beach antisemitic attack.

'Let me take a moment to send the love and prayers to the entire nation, the people of Australia, and especially all those affected by the horrific and antisemitic terrorist attack, and that's exactly what it is - antisemitic,' Trump said. 

He then had a lovefest with those in the room. 

Trump pulled onstage radio personalities Mark Levin and Sid Rosenberg and later Miriam Adelson, the widow of the late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, giving her a smooch as she walked to the podium to give remarks. 

Adelson told Trump that lawyer Alan Dershowitz told her it's legally possible for the president to run for another four years. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution says that a president can only be elected twice. 

 

Mirian Adelson (right) told President Donald Trump (left) that lawyer Alan Dershowitz told her it's legally possible for Trump to run for another term and encouraged him to do so. 'Think about it,' she said. 'She said, "Think about it, I'll give you another $250 million," Trump replied 

 

'So, we can do it,' Adelson told Trump, telling the president to 'think about it.' 

'She said, "Think about it, I'll give you another $250 million,"' Trump said, laughing.

Adelson gave Trump more than $100 million of her fortune in 2024. 

Trump lauded Representative Ronny Jackson, his former White House doctor, claiming Jackson rated Trump healthier than Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

'If he didn't say that, I would have never talked to him again,' the president joked. 

In another snub to Biden, the White House menorah, made from wood from the residence that was removed during President Harry Truman's renovation, wasn't utilized this year. 

The Biden administration made history in 2022 by adding a White House menorah to the permanent collection. 

Not surprisingly, the menorah on display Tuesday night in the East Room was bigger and more golden. 

 

A menorah was added to the White House's permanent collection for the first time under Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022. The wood came from the White House and was removed during renovations under President Harry Truman 

President Donald Trump opted to use a menorah that was larger and more golden for this year's Hannukah celebrations, having Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (second from right) help with the lighting on Tuesday's event marking the third night 

 

The president walked offstage before the menorah lighting, watching the process from the East Room's floor. 

He had made another pitch for his ballroom to the audience, as the project is now under legal threat. 

'We're donating a $400 million ballroom and we're being sued,' Trump complained, prematurely claiming that the case is over. 

But he also confessed that the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which initiated the lawsuit, had company in wanting construction to stop. 

'And my wife is being driven crazy,' Trump said. 'She said this is not what I had in mind. The first day she was great. ... Second day she was OK. Third day she wasn't thrilled, but after that it's been brutal.' 

As the press left the White House after the reception, loud pounding could be heard from the East Wing construction site.