Hillary Clinton Recounts the Trump Joke That Left Her Laughing Behind Obama

Hillary Clinton burst into laughter behind Barack Obama when Michelle Obama mentioned her husband's Nobel Peace Prize, setting off a private exchange between the two that turned Donald Trump into the punchline.

Clinton said she was seated directly behind Obama during the June 18 opening ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago when Michelle Obama began listing her husband's accomplishments. Speaking on the Pivot podcast, Clinton called the former first lady's speech "incredibly clever" and recalled what happened when she reached Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.

"And then, of course, you received a Nobel Peace Prize," Clinton recalled Michelle Obama saying. Her reaction was immediate: she burst into laughter while Obama began giggling in front of her.

She then leaned forward and poked the former president in the back. Clinton told Obama she was certain Trump was watching and joked that he probably thought he was in the "third circle of hell."

Obama's answer was short.

"Yeah, I hope he is," Clinton recalled him responding.

Michelle Obama's full rundown of her husband's record included rescuing the economy, expanding health care, ending a war, ordering the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, helping save the auto industry and winning the peace prize. Her final reference drew cheers from the crowd while Clinton's laughter was captured during the ceremony.

Clinton immediately connected the Nobel line to Trump. Trump has repeatedly argued that his diplomatic work merits a Nobel Peace Prize, while Obama received the honor in 2009 during his first year in the White House.

Away from the political humor, the ceremony celebrated a project more than a decade in the making on Chicago's South Side. The roughly $850 million Obama Presidential Center occupies about 19 acres and includes a museum, public spaces, gardens, a basketball court and a 225-foot tower.

It opened to the public June 19, a day after the dedication brought political leaders and celebrities together in Chicago. For the Obamas, the opening marked the completion of a project conceived not as a traditional presidential library centered on physical records, but as a campus intended to bring visitors into Jackson Park.

What television cameras captured as Clinton laughing during Michelle Obama's speech was only part of the story. Her podcast account revealed the poke in Obama's back, the Trump joke shared from the seat behind him and the former president's six-word response that completed their private exchange.