Trump refutes storming out of Piers Morgan interview
Former US President Donald Trump has hit back at Piers Morgan after the journalist claimed he stormed out of an interview in a huff.
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Donald Trump and Piers Morgan zealously traded blows Thursday — a day after an explosive clip of a sitdown between the pair showed the ex-POTUS storm off and blast the columnist as “very dishonest”.
In a statement released Thursday morning, former President Trump claimed the clip of the fiery showdown was “deceptively” edited, the NY Post reports.
“Piers Morgan, like the rest of the Fake News Media, attempted to unlawfully and deceptively edit his long and tedious interview with me. He wanted to make it look like I walked out on the interview when my time limit of 20 minutes went over by an hour,” Mr Trump railed.
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“The good news is that the interview was taped by us as a means of keeping him honest. The interview was actually very strong on the 2020 Election Fraud, with me calling him ‘a fool’ if he truly believed those results.”
Mr Trump also released audio of the sitdown, which shows the two men thanking each other and laughing at the end of the interview, which was filmed for Morgan’s upcoming show Piers Morgan Uncensored.
Morgan then hit back in a series of tweets Thursday morning, scoffing at Mr Trump’s apparent deflection.
“My statement to all news organisations wanting my response to President Trump claiming ‘RIGGED PROMO!!’: it was as rigged as the 2020 Election,” he quipped.
“Fake news (ironically!),” he said in another post in which he shared a tweet by RedState titled “Piers Morgan Stabbed Trump in the Back, Deceptively Edited Interview”.
“Trump loyalists will actually find much to like in the interview, if they stop throwing their toys out of the stroller long enough to actually watch it,” Morgan also wrote.
“It’s not my fault the President lost his rag with me because I don’t believe the election was stolen or rigged,” he added.
Morgan also addressed the spirited sitdown on British television Thursday.
“We had a very heated debate about his repeated claim that he didn’t lose the last election,” Morgan said on ITV’s chat show Lorraine.
“He has concocted a story with no evidence so far, that it was all fraudulent,” Morgan continued.
The outspoken TV presenter then described himself as “a very frustrated liberal” — insisting that he’s not a Republican.
In the audio clip released by Mr Trump, Morgan can be heard praising the interview.
“That was a great interview,” Morgan says in the audio.
“Yeah,” Mr Trump responds.
“Thank you very much. I really appreciate it,” Morgan adds before Mr Trump says, “Turn the camera off.”
Mr Trump insists this account is in contrast to the promotional clip released by Morgan’s team, where Mr Trump is seen becoming increasingly frustrated with the hard-hitting questions.
At one point in the promo clip, Mr Trump calls the TV presenter a “fool” as he grilled him about the 2020 election, the clip shows.
Mr Trump has steadfastly alleged since Election Night of 2020 that moves to expand mail-in voting due to the pandemic concealed election fraud by Democrats and their surrogates in key swing states.
The preview clip ended with the 45th president getting out of his seat and ordering production to “turn the camera off”.
“Very dishonest,” he added while walking away.
In a column in the NY Post, Morgan wrote that Mr Trump attacked him for exceeding the 20-minute limit for the interview, “which was particularly disingenuous given that during all our previous interviews, he’d invariably decided exactly how long he wanted to keep talking”.
In the promo clip, Mr Trump says, “I think I’m a very honest man … much more honest than you, actually.”
“Really?” Morgan asks.
“Yeah,” Mr Trump responds.
Morgan also tells Mr Trump the 2020 vote “was a free and fair election -- you lost”.
“Only a fool would think that,” Mr Trump shoots back, the promotional clip shows.
“You think I’m a fool?” Morgan retorts.
“I do now, yeah,” Mr Trump responds.
When Morgan tells Mr Trump he has not “produced the hard evidence” of election fraud, the former commander-in-chief responds, “I don’t think you’re real” – and later turns to the production crew and calls his interviewer “very dishonest”.
In his column, Morgan revealed he also told the former President that he blamed Mr Trump’s refusal to admit defeat for the deadly January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“Then you’re a fool! And you haven’t studied,” Mr Trump responded, according to Morgan.
The host added that Mr Trump initially tried to end the interview by declaring “That’s it!” but remained in his seat to discuss a recent hole-in-one he scored while playing golf.
The full interview will air on the premiere episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored on Sky News Australia, Tuesday night at 9pm AEST.
This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as Trump refutes storming out of Piers Morgan interview
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