'Do you miss me yet?': Donald Trump surprises Mar-a-Lago wedding guests

Former US president rants about his successor Joe Biden at Mar-a-Lago reception for newly-weds

US President Donald Trump gives two thumbs up during a rally in support of Republican incumbent senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue ahead of Senate runoff in Dalton, Georgia on January 4, 2021. - President Donald Trump, still seeking ways to reverse his election defeat, and President-elect Joe Biden converge on Georgia on Monday for dueling rallies on the eve of runoff votes that will decide control of the US Senate. Trump, a day after the release of a bombshell recording in which he pressures Georgia officials to overturn his November 3 election loss in the southern state, is to hold a rally in the northwest city of Dalton in support of Republican incumbent senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP)
Powered by automated translation

Former US President Donald Trump made a rare public appearance, walking on to the dance floor at a Florida wedding reception to toast a newly married couple and complain about his successor.

Mr Trump attended the reception at his Mar-a-Lago resort at the weekend and a video of his impromptu speech was published by US entertainment website TMZ.

"Do you miss me yet?" Mr Trump asked the party to loud cheers and applause.

Mr Trump, who was wearing a tuxedo, criticised the foreign policy moves of the government of Joe Biden.

On the subject of Iran, Mr Trump claimed the Biden administration lifted US sanctions despite Tehran continuing to pursue its nuclear programme.

“We were ready to make a deal, they were ready to do anything, they would have done anything. And this guy [Biden] goes and drops the sanctions and then he says we'd like to negotiate now," he told an attentive audience.

The Biden administration has not removed the sanctions on Tehran and has been seeking to engage it in talks about both sides resuming compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which offered sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Supporters of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, say it is intended to make it much more difficult for Tehran to develop a nuclear weapon.

Mr Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reimposed US sanctions, prompting Iran to breach some of the pact's nuclear restrictions.

The US and Iran have yet to agree even to meet about reviving the deal.

Addressing the wedding party, Mr Trump further lamented the miserable living conditions for Latin American families on the southern border with Mexico.

"The border is not good. It's the worst that it has ever been," Mr Trump said.

"What's happening to the kids, they're living in squalor. They are living like nobody has ever seen. There's never been anything like this."

Before leaving office in January, Mr Trump touted what he considered one of his biggest accomplishments: the partial construction of a “big, beautiful wall” along the US-Mexico border.

Mr Trump said the wall would help curb the number of migrants crossing the border.

But US border policies caused the separation of hundreds of families.

The American Civil Liberties Union said in October that it could not find the parents of 545 children separated from their families at the border as part of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy.

The coronavirus pandemic has delayed searches for the missing parents.

Continuing his short speech, Mr Trump turned to the result of the 2020 election, which he tried to undermine with frequent and baseless allegations of vote rigging and corruption in the aftermath of his defeat.

The US Justice Department has received no evidence of fraud to overturn Mr Biden’s victory.

Mr Trump concluded his remarks with a toast to the happy couple: “Now, a lot of things happening right now. I just wanted to say, it’s an honour to be here, it’s an honour to have you at Mar-a-Lago, you are a great and beautiful couple … have fun.”