Trump details his shoe philosophy: ‘I have fun with it’

By Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump disputed a recent report that he has bought members of his Cabinet dress shoes but then offered detailed thinking on why he has replaced top officials’ footwear, saying he doesn’t want his Cabinet sporting sneakers.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that Trump has taken to guessing his top officials’ shoe sizes, having an aide place orders, and sending them boxes of Florsheim dress shoes along with a note.

Asked by Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade if it was true that he was telling his Cabinet to wear the Florsheim shoes, Trump said, “No. But it’s a nice shoe.”

“What I do is, as somebody that for many, many years has walked around in shoes that were no good and, you know, would not be that comfortable, so I have fun with it,” he told Kilmeade in the interview, which aired Friday.

The president explained that when male members of his team say they have a shoe problem, he tells them he will get them a pair.

“Seems to work out pretty well. Now they look all spiffy and nice,” Trump said.

Vice President JD Vance has talked about Trump’s habit before, telling a crowd in Pennsylvania in December that the president has bought him and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “like four pairs of shoes … because he’s like, you know, ‘We need our vice president, our secretary of state to look their very best.’”

The president also lamented sneakers in the workplace.

“I never like Cabinet members walking in on sneakers. Sneakers are wonderful, but I don’t want my Cabinet members wearing sneakers, so I’ll get them a pair of shoes, it’s a gift from Donald Trump,” he said.

Trump’s shoe habit has led to speculation on the internet about Rubio’s apparently oversized shoes.

“It’s hysterical because everybody’s afraid not to wear them,” one female White House official told the Journal.

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