Former President Trump attacked ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos in a late-night post about what he called a “nasty and totally inappropriate” interview with Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).
Stephanopoulos’s contentious interview Sunday with Donalds on ABC’s “This Week” featured the pair going back and forth over Trump’s promise to pardon defendants convicted for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots, and criticism of the GOP presidential nominee’s recent attacks on Vice President Harris’s race.
Trump called the anchor politically biased and claimed he had previously given President Biden a softball interview following the poor debate performance that raised concerns among Democrats about the incumbent’s ability to continue in the campaign.
“Liddle’ George, of ABC FAKE NEWS, was so solicitous and nice, asking easy questions and doing whatever was necessary to make Sleepy, the WORST President in the history of our Country (Kamabla is the WORST V.P.), look alert and sharp,” he wrote early Tuesday on Truth Social. “It didn’t work, but he tried!”
“Then I watched Slopadopolus viciously attack Congressman Byron Donalds, a future star in the Republican Party, with nasty and totally inappropriate questions, the exact opposite of the treatment given to Crooked Joe,” Trump continued. “The good news is that Byron swatted him away like a fly, not to be heard from again!”
Stephanopoulos and Donalds clashed Sunday over the Jan. 6 riots, with the Florida lawmaker denying Trump had ever promised to pardon all of those convicted with crimes related to the insurrection. His pushback came as the ABC host, who previously served as an adviser to former President Clinton, repeatedly quoted Trump’s words verbatim. The exchange ended with voices raised.
The pair had also gone back and forth over GOP attacks on Harris’s race and heritage after Trump claimed Harris “recently turned Black” during an interview last week.
Donalds refused to denounce the remarks, which have been broadly slammed as racist, and called it a “phony controversy.”