A seven-year-old asked by Donald Trump if she still believed in Santa has said that the conversation did not shake her belief in the bearded deliverer of Christmas gifts.

Like thousands of other children, Collman Lloyd had called the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), on Christmas Eve.

The programme has been tracking Santa's progress across the world for 63 years.

But when the phone was answered, it was a scientist who asked if she wanted to speak to the US president.

For six minutes she was on hold - no music, just silence - before Mr Trump came on the line.


What the president said to Collman made headlines as he was blamed for ruining Christmas for her and children around the world.

He had said: "Are you still a believer in Santa?"

When she responded: "Yes, sir", he added: "Because at seven, that's marginal, right?"

She told the Post and Courier of Charleston that she had not known what "marginal" meant and she and her siblings had still left iced sugar cookies and chocolate milk for Santa that night.

And on Christmas Day, as usual, the food was gone and there were presents under the tree.

Perhaps Santa was real after all.

Collman had never learned Santa's whereabouts on Christmas Eve but she told the newspaper that she had still been happy to have spoken with her country's leader.

"I was like, 'wow'.

"I was shocked," she said.

"It wasn't really [nerve-wracking], I just had to think of what the truth was."

She said that after the phone call was over, she and her family had wondered about the president's family and what they would be doing for Christmas.

Next time she spoke with him, she would ask him about his family, she said.

"Most people know this question. I would like to ask if he has any kids," she said.

"I've honestly never heard of them or seen any of them so I was wondering."