Hillary Clinton Reveals What Barack Obama Said After Shocking Moment

Hillary Clinton is spilling the details about what was said during one of the most talked-about moments at the opening of Barack Obama’s presidential center — and President Donald Trump was apparently very much on their minds.

The former secretary of state revealed that she was sitting directly behind Barack Obama when Michelle Obama delivered a sly line about her husband’s Nobel Peace Prize, prompting Clinton and the former president to break into laughter.

The moment unfolded during the June 18 dedication of the $850 million Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which drew former presidents, first ladies, political heavyweights and celebrities from across the country.

But it was Michelle Obama’s rundown of her husband’s accomplishments that produced one of the ceremony’s most viral moments.

“You were doing the people’s work, rescuing our economy, expanding health care, ending a war, ordering the bin Laden raid, saving an auto industry, winning a peace prize,” Michelle told her husband.

That final reference drew laughter and applause from the crowd and was widely interpreted as a carefully placed jab at Trump, who has repeatedly complained that his own diplomatic efforts have not earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

Now Clinton has revealed what happened in the seats immediately after Michelle delivered the line.

Speaking on the Pivot podcast, Clinton recalled being seated directly behind Obama as Michelle worked her way through the former president’s record.

“Michelle Obama was giving this incredibly clever speech, touting all of Barack’s many accomplishments,” Clinton said.

Then came the Nobel reference.

“And then, of course, you received a Nobel Peace Prize,” Clinton recalled Michelle saying.

Clinton said she immediately burst out laughing.

Obama apparently couldn’t hold it together either.

“He started to giggle,” Clinton recalled.

That’s when Clinton leaned forward and delivered her own Trump joke.

“I poked him in the back and I said, ‘Oh my God, I am sure Trump is watching this. He thinks he’s now in the third circle of hell.’”

Obama’s response was only a few words.

“Yeah, I hope he is,” Clinton recalled him saying.

“It was great.”

Clinton’s account of the exchange has since circulated online, adding another layer to a moment that already had political watchers buzzing. A clip from the Pivot podcast confirms Clinton recounting Obama’s response.

The joke landed because Trump’s frustration over the Nobel Peace Prize has become something of a recurring theme in his political career.

Trump has repeatedly argued that his work on international conflicts and diplomatic agreements should have earned him the honor. He has pointed to the Abraham Accords and other negotiations while questioning why Obama received the prize so early in his presidency.

Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, less than a year after entering the White House, for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee described as his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation.

The decision was controversial even at the time, with critics arguing that Obama had not been president long enough to justify such a prestigious award.

Trump has nevertheless repeatedly returned to the subject over the years, at times publicly comparing his record to Obama’s and suggesting that the Nobel committee would never recognize him regardless of his accomplishments.

That history made Michelle Obama’s seemingly simple reference to her husband “winning a peace prize” impossible for many political observers to miss.

Trump wasn’t at the Chicago celebration, and according to Associated Press coverage of the opening, he was not directly mentioned during the ceremony. But several moments were interpreted as implicit contrasts between Obama’s political legacy and the current administration.

The opening itself was a massive political and cultural reunion.

Former Presidents Joe Biden, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton attended alongside prominent former first ladies and political figures. Performers included Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, John Legend and Christina Aguilera, among others.

Barack Obama used the occasion to call for greater civic participation and to warn against political disengagement, while Michelle delivered a deeply personal tribute to her husband’s presidency and legacy.

But for all the speeches, music and presidential star power, one of the night’s most memorable moments may have been much simpler: Michelle mentioning a Nobel Prize, Hillary Clinton laughing behind her husband and Barack Obama apparently enjoying the possibility that Trump was watching the whole thing.