From the Oval Office, President Donald Trump will read a piece of Old Testament scripture during a week-long Bible reading event.
Trump will read 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 on Tuesday, April 21, as part of America Reads the Bible, a week of national scripture reading held in tandem with the celebration of America's 250th anniversary. The event serves as a "spiritual celebration of our nation’s founding ideals and a call to rediscover the truth that still anchors us today," according to the America Reads the Bible website.
Trump's reading will be held between 6-7 p.m. ET on April 21, and will be available to watch via livestream on the America Reads the Bible website and Great American Pure Flix app. The president's reading was pre-recorded. The White House confirmed Trump's involvement in the reading to USA TODAY on April 20.
"I applaud every citizen participating in the America Reads the Bible initiative," the president said in a statement on April 17. "Together, we will honor Holy Scripture, renew our faith, usher in a historic resurgence of religion on American shores and rededicate the United States as one Nation under God."
The announcement of Trump's participation came after he and Pope Leo XIV clashed over an AI-generated image of what appeared to be the president as Jesus Christ. The image sparked a week of back-and-forth comments between the two public figures.
