Upset that his one-time buddy Piers Morgan pressed him on his 2020 election lies, former President Donald Trump appeared to storm out of a pre-taped interview in a huff as he shouted “turn the camera off,” according to a promotional clip released Wednesday afternoon.
Hours after the clip was published, however, Trump’s spokesperson provided an audio recording to NBC News that seemed to refute that he angrily walked out of the interview.
In a conversation set to air on April 25 on his new Fox Nation and Talk TV show Piers Morgan Uncensored, the first-ever Celebrity Apprentice winner repeatedly questioned the twice-impeached ex-president over his baseless claims that he only lost the 2020 presidential election because of widespread voter fraud. (Talk TV, a new British network owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, is set to debut Monday.)
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Trump insulted Morgan in response, calling him a “fool” and adding that he was “more honest” than the British tabloid veteran in the preview clip released on Wednesday.
Furthermore, when Morgan told him that the 2020 election was “free and fair,” the disgraced ex-president grumbled: “Only a fool would say that.” Eventually, Morgan noted that after more than a year, the former president and his supporters still “haven’t produced the hard evidence” to back up their wild election claims, only for Trump to toss some more choice insults his way.
“I don’t think you’re real,” an extremely sweaty Trump fumed before telling Morgan he was “very dishonest.” At the end of the short clip, Trump was seen walking off after shouting “turn the camera off.”
“Very dishonest,” he reiterated while shambling away.
But according to the recording that Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich provided to NBC, the two men laughed together at the conclusion of the interview with no indication that he stormed off.
“That was a great interview,” Morgan says at the end of the audio, followed by Trump agreeing with him.
“We have nothing to comment beyond the public information (i.e. the video clip and Piers’ column in the NY Post),” a News Corp spokesperson told NBC News.
“This is a pathetic attempt to use President Trump as a way to revive the career of a failed television host,” Budowich added to NBC News. “It is also another example of President Trump being right, as he told Piers Morgan that the host was dishonest to his face and Piers, for the first time in his life, didn’t disappoint.”
In a column written for the New York Post on Wednesday, Morgan teased more about his back-and-forth with the former president. Specifically, he said Trump tore into Morgan over his belief that Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 resulted in the Capitol insurrection.
“Then you’re a fool! And you haven’t studied,” the ex-president exclaimed.
Morgan, though, did claim that he was able to keep Trump from initially storming out of the interview by bringing up the former president’s recent hole-in-one.
After Trump was able to boast about his golf accomplishment, however, Morgan claimed that Trump shot him a “hateful” look before demanding the cameras be turned off.
