Donald Trump shows no hard feelings over Obama jokes

A picture shows what U.S. President Barack Obama said Donald Trump would do to the White House if he became President in the 2012 elections, during Obama's remarks at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner at a hotel in Washington April 30, 2011.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. real estate mogul and possible Republican presidential contender Donald Trump says that President Barack Obama did a "pretty good" job mocking him at a Washington gala Saturday evening.

In remarks at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday evening, Obama joked about the "birther" debate, Trump's possible presidential ambitions and his experience as a reality TV star.

"I thought some of what the president did was pretty good," Trump said in an interview on CNN on Sunday.

"I understand it. It was a lion's pit. I was walking into it. I've been there before and I thought it was an entertaining evening," Trump said.

One of Obama's gags that most amused Trump, he said, were the images flashed on big ballroom screens of what was labeled "Trump, The White House," spoofing the businessman's practice of naming buildings after himself.

It portrayed a hotel-casino-golf course with bikini-clad girls frolicking in the fountain that adorns a White House lawn and gold columns substituted at the front for white ones.

Trump has seized on talk that Obama was not native born and therefore ineligible to be president. Obama last week released a longer version of his birth certificate to silence the debate.

Trump again took credit for forcing Obama to release the document but said he did not want to talk about the birther issue any more.

"The press kept asking the question and that's what it came to the forefront," he said. He said he'd rather talk about serious issues like jobs and the economy.

Trump, who has been testing the waters for a possible 2012 run for the Republican presidential nomination, said he would be "announcing something prior to June."

He's holding back with an announcement until his reality TV show "Celebrity Apprentice" ends it's season on May 22, he said.

(Reporting by JoAnne Allen; Editing by Philip Barbara)