Kovaleski told the Washington Post: “The sad part about it is, it didn’t in the slightest bit jar or surprise me that Donald Trump would do something this low-rent, given his track record.”Ī spokesperson for the New York Times told Politico: “We think it’s outrageous that he would ridicule the appearance of one of our reporters.” In his Thursday statement, Trump said he had not been aware of the journalist’s disability and “merely mimicked what I thought would be a flustered reporter trying to get out of a statement he made long ago”. I don’t remember.’”Īs he spoke, Trump pulled his arms up to his chest and flailed about in what looked like an imitation of the journalist’s disability. You ought to see the guy: ‘Err, I don’t know what I said. That was not the case, as best as I can remember.”Īt the Tuesday rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Trump ridiculed Kovaleski, telling supporters: “Now the poor guy. “I do not recall anyone saying there were thousands, or even hundreds, of people celebrating. “Much of that has, indeed, faded from memory. “We did a lot of shoe leather reporting in and around Jersey City and talked to a lot of residents and officials for the broader story,” Kovaleski said on CNN. “All in all, I would say around a dozen times I’ve interacted with him as a reporter while I was at the Daily News.”Įarlier this week, Kovaleski said he did not recall Trump’s account of what happened in Jersey City on 9/11. “Donald and I were on a first-name basis for years,” Kovaleski told the Times on Thursday. Kovaleski covered Trump’s businesses as a reporter for the New York Daily News in the late 1980s and 1990s, and has met him several times. I was showing a person groveling to take back a statement made long ago!- Donald J. I do not know the reporter for the or what he looks like. “He should stop using his disability to grandstand and get back to reporting for a paper that is rapidly going down the tubes.” “Serge Kovaleski must think a lot of himself if he thinks I remember him from decades ago – if I ever met him at all, which I doubt I did,” Trump said. He also reinforced his criticism of the Times in light of its business decisions and fortunes in terms of sales and readership. Trump later added to his statement, asking the paper to apologise to him for accusing him of mocking Kovaleski. In his Thursday statement, Trump said: “I know nothing about other than I have great respect for the way he wrote the story on 18 September 2001, and in particular the paragraph talking about Muslims and tailgate parties taking place in New Jersey.”
The Washington Post has since added a disclaimer that fact-checks Trump’s claim. Kovaleski worked for the Washington Post at the time of the 9/11 attacks and was one of the authors of an article that Trump has cited in support of his claim. In a speech to supporters on Tuesday night, Trump derided Kovaleski, who has disputed Trump’s claim that he saw “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrate the 9/11 attacks – while flailing and twisting his arms. “I don’t know if he is JJ Watt or Muhammad Ali in his prime – or somebody of less athletic ability.” “Despite having one of the all-time great memories, I certainly do not remember him. “I have no idea who this reporter, Serge Kovalski, is, what he looks like or his level of intelligence,” Trump said in a statement issued by his campaign on Thursday afternoon.
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