U.S. President Joe Biden took aim at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as the European autocrat met with Donald Trump, Biden’s predecessor, at his Mar-a-Lago estate Friday.
“You know who he’s meeting with today down at Mar-a-Lago? Orbán of Hungary, who stated flatly he doesn’t think democracy works, he’s looking for dictatorship. That’s who he’s meeting with,” said Biden at a rally near Philadelphia.
“I see a future where we defend democracy, not diminish it. I see a future where we defend our freedoms, not take them away.”
Biden’s remarks arrived on the same day that Orbán, a far-right leader who has described migrants as “poison” and gone after LGBTQ+ rights, dropped by Mar-a-Lago in Florida, where the former president praised him as “fantastic.”
“There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán,” said Trump, who’s expected to face off with Biden in the 2024 presidential election.
“He’s a noncontroversial figure because he says, ‘This is the way it’s going to be and that’s the end of it,’ right? He’s the boss. No, he’s a great leader.”
The visit came a day after Orbán spoke at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that leads an effort called Project 2025.
The project, The Associated Press wrote, looks to recruit thousands “to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer” to Trump’s, in case he retakes the White House.
A CNN source described the encounter between Trump and Orbán as “friendly,” while another said the Hungarian prime minister sought the meeting with the former U.S. president.
A Biden administration official told the network that the White House didn’t invite Orbán to visit with the Democratic president, and the Hungarian prime minister did not ask to meet with Biden either.
Biden, earlier Friday, responded to a reporter who asked if he was “concerned” that Trump was meeting with Orbán.
“If I’m not, you should be,” he replied.