Trump Claims Bombshell Interview With Him Is 'Fake News'

The president insists he "didn't criticize" British Prime Minister Theresa May, but audio from the interview suggests otherwise.

i-Images/Polaris/Newscom

Donald Trump suggested today that a bombshell report published Thursday in a British tabloid—featuring audio of an exclusive interview with the president—is "fake news."

In his interview with The Sun, Trump said he disagreed with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's approach to Britain's departure from the European Union. "I would have done it much differently. I actually told Theresa May how to do it but she didn't agree, she didn't listen to me," Trump said of Brexit. "She should negotiate the best way she knows how. But it's too bad what's going on."

But at a joint press conference with May today, Trump praised Britain's prime minister and pushed back on the Sun's reporting. "I didn't criticize the prime minister. I have a lot of respect for the prime minister. And unfortunately there was a story that was done, which was, you know, generally fine," Trump said. "But it didn't put in what I said about the prime minister. And I said tremendous things."

Trump went on to suggest The Sun's report was fake news, claiming he had a recording of the interview to back that up. "Fortunately, we tend to record stories now, so we have it for your enjoyment if you like it. But we record when we deal with reporters. It's called fake news," Trump said.

The Sun also recorded the interview and posted the audio of Trump's comments with its story.

Trump still said he apologized to May for his remarks. "She's a total professional," the president said. "I said, 'I want to apologize because I said such good things about you,' And she said, 'Don't worry, it's only the press.'"

The Sun wasn't the only outlet that drew Trump's ire on Friday. During the press conference, a CNN reporter tried to ask Trump a question, but the president wasn't having it. "CNN is fake news. I don't take questions from CNN. John Roberts from Fox. Let's go to a real network," Trump said.

"CNN is fake news. I don't take questions from CNN. John Roberts from Fox. Let's go to a real network." pic.twitter.com/e2TcEu6G7e

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 13, 2018

Comments

[MP]

So The Sun, a full on tabloid, posts audio of an interview, in which they edit out their own fucking questions. And we're supposed to treat that a serious news?

GMAFB

c'mon Joe...do some homework.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

Setyon is a good young little Welchie Boy Junior in training.

[mr simple]

So I'm not going to read story at the Sun, but is the quote in this article the extent of what he said? Because calling that polite disagreement an insult, and calling that a bombshell, is fake news. Please correct me if there is anything actually bad.

[Jerryskids]

Take a deep breath and consider that The Sun is a British paper. Over there, they do things different. When a foreign leader visits their country and says anything critical of their country, their culture, their customs, their government - they leap to defend their country, culture, customs, government. I know, it seems odd that a paper would display this sort of patriotism unlike our own press whom we applaud for their constant criticism of all things American, but that's just the way they are. Thank God our own press isn't like that. And I'm sure you'd agree, right? A newspaper taking the side of their own country's leader against the side of a foreign country's leader is just disgustingly obsequious, isn't it?

[Azathoth!!]

They're flying fucking Trump baby balloons and screeching in the streets. And they hate Theresa May.

Shut the fuck up.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Maybe Trump is a scientific experiment designed to gauge just how gullible, intolerant, stupid, and worthless some people are these days?

[Sevo]

Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland|7.13.18 @ 10:50AM|#
"Maybe Trump is a scientific experiment designed to gauge just how gullible, intolerant, stupid, and worthless some people are these days?"

Dunno, but you are a glaring example of how whiny losers can be such assholes.

[Incomprehensible Bitching]

Your insults have no place in modern discourse. You sir should be ashamed, as you reveal the true nastiness of those who share your political beliefs!

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

You are free to wallow in political correctness, because even rubes have rights in a free country, but I have lost my taste for it.

I therefore call a bigot a bigot, a half-educated loser a half-educated loser, a drawling right-wing rube a drawling right-wing rube, and an intolerant, gullible, authoritarian, downscale, disaffected goober from our depleted southern and rural stretches an ardent Trump supporter and the kind of yahoo who contributes faux libertarian comments at reason.com.

Carry on, clingers.

[MP]

So The Sun, a full on tabloid, posts audio of an interview, in which they edit out their own fucking questions. And we're supposed to treat that a serious news?

GMAFB

c'mon Joe...do some homework.

[jcw]

Maybe Trump will release the audio he claims he has for comparison?

[Jerryskids]

Let me know when he releases the tape.

[Echo Chamber]

Sure he'll release it. What other conversations do you have recorded, Donald?

[Jerryskids]

I've got my fingers crossed for the one where Orrin Hatch told Trump he was the greatest president in history.

[Zeb]

I don't think you are supposed to do anything.

[loveconstitution1789]

How do you prove an audio is of the person you are saying it is?

Oh that's right, we are supposed to believe a tabloid hack, I mean a journalist.

Funny, the British think American voters would not have voted in Trump had we only known that Trump says things one way one time and says other things other times- like a politician does.

[MP]

Let's not go full on tinfoil conspiracy. It's clear Trump gave them an interview. However, The Sun, being a piece of shit rag, scrambled the context to their liking.

Trump isn't know for his coherent speaking. And he certainly steps in it all the time. So frankly it's inexcusable that anyone claiming to be a media outlet would then decontextualize it further. And it's worse that the rabid hoards simply ignore that fact.

[Cathy L]

He's incoherent and steps in it all the time, so the rest of us around supposed to pretend we don't notice. For...freedom? The children? To spare his feelings?

[Bubba Jones]

No. The point is that you don't need to make shit up. Because that just casts doubt on the incoherent shit he actually does say.

[loveconstitution1789]

We wont spare your feelings Cathy L. You're a lying shit heal.

[loveconstitution1789]

Or shit heel, whatever.

[Sevo]

Cathy L|7.13.18 @ 11:12AM|#
"He's incoherent and steps in it all the time,..."

His coherency pales in comparison to those afflicted with TDS.
"HE'S GOT SMALL HANDS!!!!!!!!"
"HE EATS FRIED CHICKEN WITH A FORK!!!!!!'
"HE WATCHBAND IS TOO TIGHT!!!!!!"
"BOMBSHELL INTERVIEW!!!!!"
As one so afflicted, I'm sure you can add to the list.

[Cathy L]

Yeah, I'm sure you can find me saying all of those things.

I will say it's a bombshell interview. I don't see why so many of you want to pretend it isn't a big deal to visit an ally and give an interview to a major tabloid in which you criticize the head of government about her biggest domestic policy issue just before meeting with her. Is that everyday news? Even for Trump it's not. He normally criticizes friendly heads of government from the comfort of home.

[Sevo]

"Yeah, I'm sure you can find me saying all of those things."

Not sure, but I can find you trying to put words in my mouth, you piece of shit.
--------------------------------
"I will say it's a bombshell interview. "

I will say you're full of shit.

[loveconstitution1789]

Oh Cathy, when you say "big deal", normal people see the opposite.

Its a big change from Obama presidency for heads of socialist states to be criticized.

[Zeb]

"Look, these other guys suck too" is always a great argument.

[Zeb]

It is the UK. So if they really just make shit up completely he can sue them for libel. I'm sure they know pretty well how to walk that line. I'm sure they also did everything they could to make him look bad so they can sell more papers with scandalous headlines.

[DajjaI]

Trump is exactly right. UK needs to move forward with Brexit or they will become a vassal state to the EU. Yes it will be painful but that's life.

[Bubba Jones]

Battered wife syndrome. They shouldn't leave the EU because Europe will intentionally make it difficult.

We should throw together a bilateral free trade agreement with the UK. Win-Win.

[Ken Shultz]

It's hard to filter what's going on sometimes through all the hate the press directs at Trump, but Trump's remarks suggest that with the new Brexit plan, any trade agreement the UK makes with the US will need to go through the EU in the future?

That sucks for the U.S. and the UK's trade relationship. If that's the only way May can get out of the EU alive and keep their trade with the EU, then I guess that's what she has to do, but that can't be good for trade between the US and the UK.

[Shirley Knott]

Worth following samizdata.net to get a better picture.

[Mickey Rat]

From what I have heard May's Brexit plan cedes regulatory control over goods to the EU, without even having the minimal say in the EU's crappy byzantine governance that they have now, as their opening negotiating position. It does nothing to regain the UK's economic sovereignty, which was the main reason people supported Brexit.

[Ken Shultz]

"The president insists he "didn't criticize" British Prime Minister Theresa May, but audio from the interview suggests otherwise."

From the video of the statement you linked, he appears to be saying that he didn't criticize Theresa May personally. He criticizes her Brexit plan, but he appears to be saying that in the audio of the interview, he only said good things about Theresa May personally.

I just listened to Sun's recording of the interview. You can listen to their edited version here:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6.....-deal-off/

Far as I can tell, it's a recording of Trump criticizing May's Brexit plan but only saying good things about Theresa May personally. In fact, in the middle of criticizing May's Brexit plan for being the opposite of what he recommended, he said that Theresa May is doing what she thinks is best.

Maybe your whole post here is fake news, or maybe you're somebody who can't tell the difference between a personal attack and criticizing legislation? If either of those shoes fit, you should probably be ashamed of yourself.

P.S.That last bit is more of a personal attack. See the difference?

[Old Mexican - Mostly Harmless]

He said Boris would make a great MP. It's like Theresa Mays saying something like John Kelly would make a great president, when there's already a president in the White House.

[Sevo]

"Bombshell" interview? Which turns out to be mostly factual?
I ended up at Onion, right?

[Rhywun]

There were several misleading, fact-lite hit pieces yesterday too. Why change now.

[Bubba Jones]

Isn't Page 3 the only part of the Sun that anybody reads? Or did they shut that down?

[loveconstitution1789]

Did anyone else see how the British media felt the need to cover extensively how Prime Minister Theresa May's Diabetic patch worked and why she had it?

Who really cared and it was clearly something that she needed to wear even with a sleeveless dress. The media needed to make sure nobody thought she was weak for having a diabetic alarm.

The media thought that was important because they think its important.

[Ken Shultz]

Their tabloid style of journalism in the UK is not superior to what we get in the U.S. the way the writing of Downton Abbey is superior to Two Broke Girls, that's for sure.

[Shirley Knott]

It's worth pointing out that 'League of Gentlemen' was their number one comedy when it was aired.
Watch that and, well, just watch it. Sense of humor does not equal sense of humour.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

On the Russian front, their "5th gen" Su57 is so outstanding there's no need to build more than a dozen of them. Word.

[Ken Shultz]

It's astounding the way bad Trump coverage seems to unify commenters here--most of whom would be arguing with each other about anything else.

Pro-Trump people, anti-Trump people, people who would be at each other's throats over every other issue, we all seem to have gotten to the point where TDS is just universally . . .

I remember seeing footage from the end of the McCarthy era, where congress is walking out on the McCarthy hearings shaking their heads and laughing to themselves--even as McCarthy is blabbering away about communism, etc., etc. People were so disgusted with it.

"Have you no sense of decency?" I think that's about where the American people are with the press.

[Cathy L]

You're right, TDS is really something.

[Jerryskids]

Are you not entertained? The press doesn't exist to inform the public on important matters of the day, they exist to sell advertising. The idea that they exist to inform the public on important matters of the day is a marketing myth on a par with Kellogg's marketing myth that a bowl of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs is a part of this nutritious breakfast.

[Ken Shultz]

The audience for their news continues to shrink, though. It isn't even a money making enterprise, really. It's a vanity project, and it's insurance to keep the government away. Most politicians are reluctant to go after people with deep media interests.

The top news shows on cable average 3 million viewers--out of 350 million Americans. As far as market penetration, that sucks. The people who are investing in those assets aren't about maximizing profits so much as they're about maximizing utility,. If you're a journalist and you might ever want to work for a news organization affiliated with NBC, ABC, Disney, Time Warner, etc. then you don't say bad shit about certain people--Bill Gates and Warren Buffet among them..

Meanwhile, respect for the industry continues to plummet. A month before Trump was elected, there was a gallup poll showing that Americans respect for the news had fallen to lower levels than it had ever been before. Americans respect for the news was lower than it was for Donald Trump! Has anything happened since then to restore our faith? It's just gotten worse.

If I wanted to write a parody of the news today, it would have a bunch of "serious" reporters from the White House Press corp in a night club going wild over Stormy Daniels shaking her tits and ass around. Now reality has come and taken that away! What's wrong with these people? Is this why they got into journalism?

[Rhywun]

When Reason has been reduced to citing The Sun as a credible source of news... I... just can't even. Words fail.

[Ron]

Reminds me of how Bill Clinton would say one thing one day and then another on the next. Should we accept the fact that they all do it yes but we should still criticize and not let them get away with it, but a little reminder that what Trump is doing is nothing new under the sun and not the same as whataboutism.

[loveconstitution1789]

Even funnier is that media has to cut what Trump says to purposely print it out of context to try and make him look bad.

Trump says all sorts of things that make him look bad. He also says things, that upset Lefties, and are absolutely true.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Bombshell? Really? Let's imagine the headlines with Obama as president.
The SUN front page: World's most fabulous man heaps praise on Prime Minister May while all of the U.K. basks in his glory!
WAPO and NYT page 40 below the fold: Obama praises May but questions Brexit policy.
Reason H&R: NYC hair braiders forced to pay hundreds for state licenses.
This isn't a bombshell. It isn't even a fucking story. But thanks Reason for regurgitating this shit. Saves me lots of valuable web surfing time.

[Azathoth!!]

The sad thing, Michael, is that you don't know how true this is.

People can only take being shrieked at by blithering idiots like yourself for so long.

[Sevo]

Fuck off, Mike. Go and die.

[Sevo]

Mike, given that you are dishonest and stupid, how is it you look in the mirror?
Are you stupid enough to think what you see is someone else? Are you dishonest enough to hope everyone else will delude themselves as you do?
How is it that such a pathetic excuse for humanity gets through a day without committing suicide?

[Sevo]

So?

[Sevo]

No, Mike, just pointing out that you need medical help.
Fuck off.

[Sevo]

Michael Hihn|7.13.18 @ 1:00PM|#
"When crazy Trumptards claim a straight news report ... which NEVER say, or even hints that The Sun is a credible source, we see new PROOF of brainwashing by Fox, Breitrbart, Infowars and WND.........."

More CAPS, Mike, keep it up! Spike that blood pressure! Have that coronary event!
Fuck off and die.

[Sevo]

Michael Hihn|7.13.18 @ 9:47PM|#
"When you slurp so hungrily on Trump's tiny dick, do you use a napkin or a tissue?"

So Trump said "no" and here you are, still angry after all this time?
So sad, Mike.
Go fuck off and die.