President Trump Confirms Kobe Bryant Fight Story, I Had To Break It Up!

President Trump just confirmed he really did break up a fight involving Kobe Bryant back in the day ... telling Jake Paul it probably wasn't a smart thing to do -- but it worked out in the end.

POTUS sat down with El Gallo for just under half an hour while they were in Kentucky for a rally this week ... and they talked about a number of topics like the war in Iran, the 2024 assassination attempt, Jake's boxing success and even his possible political career.

At one point, Jake asked Trump if he had ever been in a fight himself ... which led to the longtime rumor that he had a role in a scrap involving the late NBA legend in 1998.

According to writer Jeff Pearlman, it all went down during All-Star Weekend in New York ... when Kobe was in a Grand Hyatt hotel elevator with Jayson Williams, Charles Oakley and The Donald.

The story goes Williams was upset with how Bryant greeted him ... as he felt a young hooper should have shown more respect to the vet -- and got so pissed that he swung on the Lakers star.

It was apparently so intense that Trump intervened to de-escalate the situation.

As it turns out, Trump said it's totally true ... but he was by no means the aggressor.

"That was a long time ago. Yeah, well I was breaking up a fight, which sometimes is more dangerous than being in a fight," Trump said.

"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."

Pretty wild to picture the future Commander in Chief being peacemaker among some big NBA guys ... but he says it's a fact.

As for Jake's combat, Trump said he wants to see him go up against Khabib Nurmagomedov ... but we doubt that'll ever happen.