Trump Camp Rebuts Trump Calling Meghan Markle Nasty — With Clip Of Him Calling Her Nasty
An official Twitter account for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign engineered an apparent self-own while attempting to defend him Saturday.
The “Official Trump War Room” account angrily declared it “fake news” that Trump had called Meghan Markle “nasty” — while posting a clip of him using the word while discussing the Duchess of Sussex.
Trump made the comment in an interview in the Oval Office Friday with the British tabloid The Sun ahead of his state visit to London on Monday. When the reporter pointed out that Markle had vowed in 2016 to move to Canada if Trump were elected, Trump responded: “I didn’t know she was nasty.”
The war room account tweeted: “Here is what he actually said. Listen for yourself!”
Sure enough, that’s exactly what he said.
Fake News CNN is at it again, falsely claiming President Trump called Meghan Markle "nasty." Here is what he actually said. Listen for yourself! pic.twitter.com/kLuPXBLMhf
— Official Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) June 1, 2019
Trump himself tweeted Sunday that he “never” called Markle “nasty” and accused the “Fake News Media” of fabricating the story, despite the audio released and transcribed by his own campaign that suggests otherwise.
“Will @CNN, @nytimes and others apologize?” Trump tweeted. “Doubt it!”
I never called Meghan Markle “nasty.” Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold! Will @CNN, @nytimes and others apologize? Doubt it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 2, 2019
A White House official told HuffPost on Sunday that Trump’s “nasty” remark had been referring to Markle’s past comments about him, not the duchess herself.
“He wasn’t saying she was nasty,” the official said. “He was responding to the reporter reading things she had said about him in the past and he was saying he didn’t realize she had said nasty things towards him. He said very nice things about her, including he thought she would do an excellent job as princess, etc.”
Twitter users — including lots of journalists — were nonetheless amused and startled by the comments from the president and his team.
TFW when the quote you’re denying is in the audio you’re tweeting. https://t.co/iFu4IqaRys
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 1, 2019
“No I didn’t know that she was nasty,” POTUS says about Meghan Markle in the clip after the interviewer told him that in 2016 she’d threatened to leave the US if he was elected. https://t.co/ufduNAppCr
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 1, 2019
He actually calls her “nasty” in this audio. That is the exact word he uses. Who is running that war room? George Orwell? https://t.co/6X5Dl979oI
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) June 1, 2019
Today, June 1, 2019—a date which will live in infamy—the @TrumpWarRoom was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the @TrumpWarRoom.
— Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) June 1, 2019
Um he said “I didn’t know she was nasty.” That is calling someone nasty.
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) June 1, 2019
"I didn't know that she was nasty." There. Saving others the time and agony of hearing Trump's God-awful voice.
— Patti Lou (@50inaug) June 1, 2019
He literally says it in your recording. You even subtitled it. pic.twitter.com/gYyi3HB7nP
— Craig Beilinson (@cbeilinson) June 1, 2019
Are you deaf AND blind???
— Michael Marshall Smith (@ememess) June 1, 2019
— Martin J. Keane (@CanesLawMarty) June 1, 2019
Hard to imagine a more explicit example of gaslighting than this.
Trump's "war room" tweets audio of Trump saying Markle was nasty, with subtitles showing he said she was nasty, while denying that he said she was nasty.
For the love of god. pic.twitter.com/xq1kIhF3Tb— Avi Bueno (@Avi_Bueno) June 1, 2019
Why does a draft dodger need a 'War Room.'
— Brian Regal, PhD (@tarbosaur) June 1, 2019
Here’s another tape to check out:
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In his interview with the Sun, Trump also insisted he is hugely popular in the U.K. and that he supports controversial right-winger Boris Johnson to replace outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May (who Trump said bungled Brexit).
Discussing environmental issues, he also said of the U.S.: “I can say we have among the cleanest climate in the world right now. Our air and water are doing very well.”
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he didn’t believe Trump’s comments about Markle would “disrupt” his upcoming U.K. visit.
“The other thing that we’ve learned from the president is that, you know, regularly we have to agree to disagree,” Hunt told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “And there’s a whole list of things that we don’t agree with the administration on.”
.@RealDonaldTrump is disputing that he “called” #MeghanMarkle “nasty” after an intv. with @TheSun. When asked about Meghan calling him “misogynistic” he said, "I didn’t know that she was nasty." But @Jeremy_Hunt says, “I don't think it's going to disrupt the welcome” to the UK. pic.twitter.com/RGeiqsKK1Q
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) June 2, 2019
This story has been updated with comment from a White House official and the British foreign secretary.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.