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

There were a few boos mixed with mostly applause and cheers as Trump finished his speech at the annual white tie event that raises money for Catholic Charities. A number of New York Democratic figures were present at the dinner, including Senator Chuck Schumer, Attorney General Letitia James, Governor Kathy Hochul and embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Trump’s one-liners attacking Harris and other Democrats drew mixed reactions from the crowd at times. The former president criticized the “idiots who gave me this stuff” after a joke about Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff’s previous extramarital affair was met with groans.

Harris was not at the annual gala and she was campaigning in the key swing state of Michigan. Harris appeared via video link in a skit alongside comedian Molly Shannon, who portrayed her Saturday Night Live Character Mary Katherine Gallagher, a Catholic student.

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

Newsweek Trump’s campaign emailed 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 probably should have told her that the funds were intended to save the looters and rioters in Minneapolis and she would have been here guaranteed,” Trump said, referring to the protests , which took place following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.

“You better remember that I’m here and she’s not.”

Trump used the vice president’s absence to attack President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities, something the Republican did frequently 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 pointed to the affair Emhoff admitted to during his first marriage and the unconfirmed reports that the woman served as a nanny for 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.

“This is a bad thing. I told those idiots who gave me this stuff that it was too harsh,” Trump added.

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

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

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

Harris mocked Trump during her skit, which was streamed at the event. The vice president told Shannon’s character that she wouldn’t make jokes at the gala to make fun of Catholics because that would be “like criticizing Detroit in Detroit,” which the former president did at a recent campaign event in Michigan has done.

Comedian Jim Gaffigan also referred to this Access Hollywood A tape recorded Trump bragging in 2005 that he could grab women “by the ass” while mocking the former president for spreading the false claim that migrants were becoming people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio eat.

“During the first and only debate, President Trump talked about migrants taking and eating cats,” Gaffigan said. “You know, if you’re keeping track at home, this is the second time cat-snatching 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 made the joke Access Hollywood Band.

In a statement, Ammar Moussa, rapid operations director for Harris’ campaign, said: “Donald Trump struggled to read notes written by his superiors and repeatedly complained that he could not use a teleprompter.”

“He stumbled over his words and lashed out when the crowd wouldn’t laugh with him. In the rare moments when he went off script, he went on long, incomprehensible rambles, reminding Americans how unstable he had become. And of course he managed to “himself.”