WASHINGTON — Dennis Rodman joined President Trump in Texas on Thursday ahead of the president’s evening rally in the NBA star’s college town — as Trump prepares to renew diplomacy with Rodman’s pal, the North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un.
Rodman’s plan to participate in the trip was first reported by The Post and comes as Trump prepares to re-engage with Kim and potentially meet with him later this year.
The five-time NBA champion with the “Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls wore sparkly black pants, Crocs and a T-shirt with a picture of himself as he hobnobbed with White House officials, towering over White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Trump credited Rodman with helping him in the past with North Korea diplomacy as he gave the rebounding star a shout-out during a speech inside a Peterbilt Motors facility in Denton, Texas.
“You know, when I wanted to get to know Kim Jong Un, when we were having a problem… the one who knew him best was Dennis Rodman, because they asked Dennis to come over to North Korea to work with their basketball team,” Trump said.
“Their basketball team wasn’t doing too well, right, Dennis? Dennis worked with him. I’m not sure that he was able to do much with that particular team. The only thing he would have helped if Dennis played on the team, right? But I want to thank Dennis Rodman. He’s a special guy.”
Trump said earlier as he privately greeted Rodman that “this guy could rip those rebounds, huh? The best rebounder in the history of basketball!”
“You know what, you look good too, Dennis,” the president added.
“My friend, my friend,” Rodman replied in an encounter posted to X by White House official Margo Martin.
Trump also greeted Rodman’s girlfriend, rapper Yella Yella, asking her, “What the hell are you doing with him for?”
Trump deflected reporter questions about Rodman and North Korea.
“We have a good relationship and you’re not going to have any problem — so long as I’m here, you’re not going to have any problems,” Trump said. “Somebody else comes, you could have some big problems.”
After the Texas stop, Trump will headline a rally in Durant, Okla., where Rodman attended Southeastern Oklahoma State University in the mid-1980s.
Rodman traveled to North Korea at least five times between 2013 and 2017 and described Kim as a “friend for life.”
“After the midterms, Trump wants to refocus again on North Korea and start talking about Kim Jong Un,” a source close to Rodman told The Post ahead of the trip.
“Dennis believes he’s the ambassador of goodwill between North Korea and the United States. As Trump ponders what to do next, he’s been soliciting ideas and one of those key people he’s talking to is Dennis.”
Trump met with Kim three times during his first term, but Pyongyang has been cool to the idea of another summit, warning that any attempt to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons would be pointless.
Washington Post journalist Josh Rogin reported Tuesday on X that Rodman doesn’t have a pristine record with Kim, owing to a 2014 trip where he “got super drunk and allegedly defecated on the hotel room floor.”
