Trump: I Didn't Ask About Rushmore, Love the Idea

President Trump is denying a report that an aide asked about adding his face to Mount Rushmore—but he added that he loves the idea. In a Sunday night tweet, Trump rejected a report in the New York Times over the weekend that an unnamed aide reached out to the Republican governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, last year to inquire about the process, reports the Hill. "Fake news," the president wrote. "Never suggested it although, based on all of the many things accomplished during the first 3 1/2 years, perhaps more than any other Presidency, sounds like a good idea to me!"

One issue with the denial: Noem herself has said publicly that Trump seriously asked her about it in 2018, when she visited the Oval Office as a member of Congress. She spelled it out in an interview that year with the Argus Leader. The Washington Post has some context, pointing out that Trump has a history of raising the idea, while insisting he's joking. This 2017 quote sums it up: “I’d ask whether or not you think I will someday be on Mount Rushmore, but, no—here’s the problem. If I did it joking, totally joking, having fun, the fake-news media will say, ‘He believes he should be on Mount Rushmore!’ ” Trump said during a speech in Ohio. “So I won’t say it, OK? I won’t say.” (More President Trump stories.)