Video unearthed Thursday on social media threw cold water on President Trump’s claim late Wednesday that he has “never” used the word “retarded” to refer to anyone.
Old footage of the president appearing on “The Howard Stern Show” unearthed by a Washington Post reporter on Twitter includes audio of Trump using the word to refer to a business reporter who at the time had apparently written about Trump’s financial arrangements.
“I know I was criticized in one magazine where the writer was retarded. He said, ‘Donald Trump put up $7 million, they put up $193 million, and they are 50/50 partners. Why isn’t Donald Trump putting up more money?’ And you know it is supposed to be because I am smart,” Trump tells Stern in the clip, who can be heard laughing as the president uses the term.
A second clip, this time containing video, shows the president using the term to refer to one of his golfing partners who he says gave him advice regarding his contract negotiations with NBC. Trump for years served as host of “The Apprentice” and “The Celebrity Apprentice” on the network.
{mosads}“I have a golf pro who’s mentally retard–,” Trump says in the clip, before seeming to catch himself. “I mean he’s really not a smart guy. And I’m playing golf, and I’m thinking about what I’m going to tell NBC, and this golf pro comes up to me and tells me, ‘Yeah, but your show is an hour, and Friends is a half-hour.’”
Trump denied using the term late Wednesday in a tweet after veteran journalist Bob Woodward reported in his new book that Trump had used the term while insulting Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner,” Trump reportedly told former White House staff secretary Rob Porter while mimicking a Southern accent. “He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.”
Trump forcefully denied the claim on Twitter, arguing that he had “never” used the term.
“The already discredited Woodward book, so many lies and phony sources, has me calling Jeff Sessions ‘mentally retarded’ and ‘a dumb southerner.’ I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing,” Trump wrote, adding: “He made this up to divide!”
Woodward’s book, detailing the inner workings of Trump’s administration, is set to hit shelves Sept. 11. The White House has issued a blanket refutation of the book’s claims, which it says are based on information from disgruntled ex-employees.