LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Former President Donald Trump told Breitbart News exclusively here that he is considering attending the funeral of the assassinated former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and that he is communicating with Abe’s family about the matter.
“We’re going to see how it goes,” Trump said when asked if he would attend Abe’s funeral. “We’re talking to their family. We love the family. His wife is a phenomenal woman. He is so loved in Japan I can imagine that is going to be an incredible celebration of life. He was just very special. Every aspect of that man was just very special. You know he was the first person I saw? Do you remember he came early? He came right after the election—he was the first person I saw. But we had a special relationship. We’re going to see about that, we’re talking about that right now.”
Trump’s comments came during an exclusive interview backstage after an event he hosted with the GOP nominees for U.S. Senate and for governor here in Nevada, former Attorney General Adam Laxalt and Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo. Trump spoke for close to an hour to a packed ballroom at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip Friday night after Laxalt, Lombardo, and several local and national law enforcement personnel hosted a law-and-order-focused panel.
Trump and Abe were the closest of friends during Trump’s time in the White House and Abe’s time as Prime Minister. Perhaps there was no other world leader with whom Trump was as close, as the two shared dozens of phone calls, several visits to each other’s countries, and even played golf several times together. Abe was, as Trump said, one of the first foreign leaders to recognize his win after he shocked the world in 2016 and defeated former Secretary of State Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton—an important step for Trump when he took the White House in early 2017.
“He was a great man,” Trump told Breitbart News of Abe. “He…