Former President Donald Trump drew some boos from the crowd after making a series of jokes at the Al Smith charity dinner in New York City, including mocking Vice President Kamala Harris for her absence.

There was some boos mixed with mostly applause and cheers as Trump wrapped up his speech at the annual white-tie event that raises money for Catholic charities. A number of New York Democratic figures, such as Senator Chuck Schumer, Attorney General Letitia James, Governor Kathy Hochul and embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams, attended the dinner.

Trump’s one-liners attacking Harris and other Democrats sometimes received mixed reactions from the audience. The former president lashed out at the “idiots who gave me this stuff” after a joke about Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff’s past extramarital affair was met with groans.

Harris was not at the annual gala and campaigned in the important swing state of Michigan. Harris appeared via video link in a sketch alongside comedian Molly Shannon who portrayed her Saturday evening live character Mary Katherine Gallagher, a Catholic schoolgirl.

Harris also drew some boos from the audience when it was announced on stage that the Democratic presidential nominee would not be appearing in person at the event. Harris’ campaign team said Trump’s speech at the Al Smith dinner contained “incomprehensible talk that reminded Americans how unstable he has become.”

Newsweek has contacted the Trump campaign team via email for comment.

During his speech, Trump mixed jokes with appeals to voters as the election is less than three weeks away.

“If you really wanted Vice President Harris to accept your invitation, you should have told her that the money would have saved the looters and rioters in Minneapolis and that she would have been here guaranteed,” Trump said, referring to the protests that took place following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.

“You better remember I’m here and they’re not.”

Trump used the vice president’s absence to attack President Joe Biden’s cognitive ability, which the Republican often did when the president was still in the 2024 race.

“If the Democrats really wanted someone not to be with us tonight, they would have sent Joe Biden,” Trump said.

The former president also referenced the affair Emhoff admitted to having during his first marriage and unconfirmed reports that the woman was a nanny to Emhoff’s children.

“The only advice I would have for (Harris) if she wins is not to let her husband Doug near the nannies,” Trump said, prompting groans and gasps from the audience.

“That is an annoying issue. I told these idiots who gave me this stuff, that’s too heavy,” Trump added.

Trump received mixed reactions when he made a transgender joke while discussing Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

“Unfortunately, Governor Walz himself is not here, but don’t worry, he will say he is,” Trump said, referring to Walz falsely claiming he was in Hong Kong during Beijing’s Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

“I used to think Democrats were crazy when they said men had periods, but then I met Tim Walz,” Trump said.

Harris mocked Trump during her skit streamed at the event. The vice president told Shannon’s character that she would not make jokes at the gala ridiculing Catholics because that would be “criticizing Detroit in Detroit,” which the former president recently did at a campaign event in Michigan.

Comedian Jim Gaffigan also referred to the Access to Hollywood tape – which recorded Trump bragging in 2005 that he can grab women “by the p****” – while mocking the former president for making the false claim that migrants ate people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio.

“During the first and only debate, President Trump talked about immigrants taking cats and eating them,” Gaffigan said. “You know, if you’re keeping an eye on it at home, this is the second time that getting a cat has been part of a campaign issue.”

After a shocked reaction from the audience, Gaffigan said, “You know, I wanted to leave that out.”

Trump’s wife, former First Lady Melania Trump, was sitting nearby when Gaffigan joked about the Access to Hollywood band.

In a statement, Ammar Moussa, rapid response director for Harris’ campaign, said: “Donald Trump had difficulty reading the script notes written by his handlers, repeatedly complaining that he could not use a teleprompter.

‘He stumbled over his words and lashed out when the audience didn’t want to laugh with him. In the rare moments when he wasn’t working with the script, he went on long, incomprehensible rambles, reminding Americans how unstable he has become. themselves.”