Trump: I told Chinese president about Syria airstrikes over dessert

President Trump said he told Chinese President Xi Jinping about the U.S. missile strike on Syria while the two were eating dessert.

During an interview on Fox Business, Trump was asked about the fact that he was with the Chinese president when the U.S. launched the strike on Syria in retaliation for a chemical attack last week in northern Syria that killed dozens of civilians.

The president said he was sitting at the table with Xi and had just finished dinner.

{mosads}”We’re now having dessert, and we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen,” Trump said during an interview on Fox Business. “And President Xi was enjoying it.”

Trump said he had been given a message “from the generals.”

“That the ships are locked and loaded, what do you do? And we made a determination to do it, so the missiles were on the way,” Trump said.

“And I said, Mr. President, let me explain something to you. This is during dessert. We’ve just fired 59 missiles, all of which hit by the way, unbelievable from, you know, hundreds of miles away, all of which hit.”

The president went on to tout the country’s technology.

“Our technology, our equipment, is better than anybody by a factor of five. What we have in terms of technology, nobody can even come close to competing,” Trump said.

Trump misspoke during the interview, mentioning Iraq instead of Syria as the target.

“So what happens is I said, ‘We’ve just launched 59 missiles … heading to Iraq,” Trump said.

He was corrected by Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo, who asked if he meant “heading to Syria.”

“Yes, heading toward Syria, and I want you to know that,” Trump said about his remarks to Xi.

Trump said he didn’t want to let Xi leave without knowing.

After hearing the news, the Chinese president paused for 10 seconds, Trump said.

“And then he asked the interpreter to please say it again. I didn’t think that was a good sign,” Trump said.

“And he said to me, ‘Anybody that uses gases … anybody that was so brutal and uses gases to do that to young children and babies, it’s OK’ … He was OK with it.”

This story was updated at 10:20 a.m.