One day after being rebuked widely for allegedly mocking a physically disabled reporter, Donald Trump the business mogul turned GOP presidential candidate denied on Thursday that he had mocked the reporter and he accused the same reporter of using the disability for grandstanding. He wrote that authorities had detained a number of people who allegedly were seen celebrating the terror attacks and holding parties that were tailgate in style, on the rooftops of homes while watching the devastation in NY. “When Mr. Trump referenced the story recently, Mr. Kovaleski did not back away from his story, but merely said his reporting did not support Mr. Trump’s claim that thousands were celebrating”. “I don’t remember, ‘” Trump told the crowd in SC while making gestures with his arms that look like he’s making fun of Kovaleski’s disability. While I may have met him, I don’t remember it – he made no impression on me.
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A representative for The Times said Wednesday, “We’re outraged that he would ridicule the physical appearance of one of our reporters”. “It is understood that Mr Trump is familiar with Mr Kovaleski as the latter covered him while a reporter for the New York Daily News in the late 1980s to early 1990s”, the Independent reported. “I don’t remember!'” Trump said, jerking his arms as he spoke. He would not apologize, and instead suggested The New York Times owes him an apology.
Numerous fact-checkers said his comments were untrue, so Trump seized on a story co-written by Kovaleski, then with the Washington Post, seven days after the attacks.
“Our presidential candidates should be moral examples for all Americans and not disparage people with disabilities, who make up 20 per cent of the American population”, said Mr Jay Ruderman, the foundation president.
The Washington Post says the article’s allegations were never corroborated, and in any case, no reporter had ever claimed to have seen thousands of Muslims celebrating the event. This observer finds Trump’s statements to be non-credible, especially when taking into account Trump’s own statement in that mocking speech: “You ought to see this guy”.
“He’s going, ‘I don’t remember”. “I’ve talked to him at press conferences”.
In his statement Thursday, Trump maintained that he had never met Kovaleski.
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On Saturday, Trump, already under criticism for voicing support for a database of Muslims in the United States, insisted that he had watched while “thousands and thousands of people” cheered in Jersey City as the twin towers collapsed.
