Trump revives story about breaking up Kobe Bryant fight in Jake Paul interview

President Donald Trump told YouTuber Jake Paul in a Friday interview posted on the social media platform X that he broke up a fight involving the legendary late basketball player Kobe Bryant.

In a story first reported by author Jeff Pearlman in the book “Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty,” Trump supposedly broke up a fight between Bryant and fellow player Jayson Williams when both were in New York for the 1998 NBA All-Star Game. Bryant died in a helicopter crash in 2020 and Williams, 58, has not publicly commented on Trump’s claim.

Supposedly Bryant entered an elevator in which both Williams and Trump were present, and Williams greeted Bryant but felt Bryant’s reply was cold, prompting Williams to punch Bryant in the cheek.

"Trump, of all people, grabbed Williams and told Bryant, 'Get out of here. Quickly,’” Pearlman wrote in the book. In the recent conversation with Paul, Trump described the incident vaguely without going into specifics.

"I was breaking up a fight. … Which sometimes is more dangerous than being in a fight, right?” Trump told Paul. “But I like Kobe. Kobe was having a hard time with somebody and it worked out fine. But, yeah, I broke it up. Probably not a smart thing to do. Historically, it's never good to break up fights."

Paul is a staunch Trump supporter who once said of Trump that “when you try and kill God's angels and saviors of the world it just makes them bigger." Earlier in March, Trump endorsed Paul for potential political office at a Kentucky rally.

“I just want to say I predict, I'm going to make a prediction, that you will be in the not too distant future, running for political office, OK?” Trump said while appearing with Paul at a Wednesday rally in Kentucky. “And you have my complete and total endorsement, OK?’’ He also said Paul is a “hell of a fighter,” prompting a fact-check from USA Today’s Josh Peter.

“Paul is 12-2 with 7 knockouts and, before his KO loss to [Olympic gold medalist Anthony] Joshua, benefited from careful matchmakers,” Peter wrote.

He later added, “He built his record with victories over aging MMA fighters, an ancient Mike Tyson, a retired NBA player and a YouTuber.” While Paul is not a “terrible boxer,” Peter concluded that saying “‘a hell of a fighter’ is a big stretch.”