WASHINGTON (AP) — There was a glass bottle of milk on the Resolute Desk, and President Donald Trump promised to get to it soon.
But first he had to talk about Iran, the capture of someone accused of leaking secret information about Venezuela and a pair of executive orders he was issuing.
Only then could he get to the actual business at hand — signing a bipartisan measure that recently sailed through Congress allowing schools to serve whole and 2% milk
along with the skim and low-fat products required since 2012.
“You see that beautiful milk? That’s why we’re here,” Trump said. He noted the large group of people behind him in the Oval Office — Cabinet secretaries, lawmakers from both parties, dairy farmers, children — who had assembled to cheer the new law.
“We’ll be talking about that in a second,” Trump said.
Even by Trump standards, the “Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act” signing was a surreal scene. The president is accustomed to moving markets, putting foreign leaders on notice and making major news in an instant — often during long public events on various unrelated topics and always with cameras rolling.
But dairy products aren't usually involved.
Before he could address the eclectic group of attendees, Trump told gathered reporters he had it “on good authority” that plans for executions in Iran have stopped. That's despite Tehran having signaled fast trials and executions ahead in its crackdown on protesters who have taken to the streets across that country.
It appeared to be a potential escape for Trump from the geopolitical corner he had painted himself into after warning for days that the U.S. could strike Iran militarily if the mass killings continued.
After that announcement, Trump abruptly changed topics.
He proclaimed that “the leaker has been found, and is in jail right now — and that’s the leaker on Venezuela, a very bad leaker." Without clarifying what case he was referring to, the president suggested that “there could be some others. We’re hot on their trail.”
Next, the president signed executive orders related to tariffs on semiconductors and rare earth minerals.
Then it was finally back to milk, which Trump said both Republicans and Democrats drink. Referring to national nutrition adviser Dr. Ben Carson, Trump said he “still looks good. That's 'cause he drinks a lot of milk.”
Trump made still more news after taking questions from reporters.
He revealed he'd completed his first known phone call with Delcy Rodríguez, who became Venezuela's acting leader after the U.S. ousted President Nicolás Maduro last week.
Trump also said he would be briefed on meetings earlier Wednesday between U.S. officials and leaders from Greenland and Denmark regarding his insistence that the U.S. take over the world's largest island — if he ever finished with the milk event, that is.
That didn't stop officials at the signing event from praising milk heartily, championing its role in brain development and calling it “the most wholesome nutritious drink known to humankind.” A child gave the president a detailed explanation of how milk is produced, and Carson likened milk with low fat content to dishwater.
Trump eventually pointed back at the uncapped bottle on his desk and said, “It just looks so good sitting there.”
“We have some milk here. It’s been sitting here for five days,” he joked. “I brought it so the press could have some.”
The event ended with the milk bottle untouched.
