Former President Donald Trump told a racist joke during an Oval Office briefing before a May 2017 meeting with then-Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xun Phc, former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius writes in his new book .

When Trump was told the visiting leaders name rhymed with book, Osius said the then-president asked if it was like Fook You.

I knew a guy named Fook You. Really. I rented him a restaurant, Trump continued, according to Osius account. When he picked up the phone, he answered Fook You. His business went badly. People didnt like that. He lost the restaurant.

All those present laughed dutifully, Osius wrote in Nothing Is Impossible: Americas Reconciliation With Vietnam. Salon published excerpts on Tuesday ahead of the books release later this week.

Phc is now the president of Vietnam.

Osius resigned as ambassador five months after the meeting, protesting a Trump White House proposal to deport more Vietnamese refugees who had lived in the United States for decades.

Trump has a long history of making sexist , racist and otherwise offensive comments.

During Trumps time in office, he described Haiti and African nations as shithole countries and was blamed for a spike in anti-Asian racism during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump still uses racist slurs to refer to the virus.