Former president Trump’s communications director released audio to NBC News on Wednesday night that appears to contradict TV host Piers Morgan’s claim that Trump stormed out of an interview after Morgan criticized his refusal to admit he lost the 2020 election.
At the end of the recording, the two men can be heard thanking each other, while Morgan said it was a “great interview.” Trump communications director Taylor Budowich described the incident as “a pathetic attempt to use President Trump as a way to revive the career of a failed television host,” in comments to NBC.
Morgan wrote in his New York Post column on Wednesday afternoon that he met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago, Fla., residence for the first interview of his new TV show, Piers Morgan Uncensored.
“It was a free and fair election. You lost,” Morgan said in the interview, according to footage released by the TV host.
“Only a fool would think that,” Trump responded.
“You think I’m a fool?” Morgan asked.
“I do now, yeah,” Trump said.
In the footage, Trump tells Morgan “I don’t think you’re real,” and repeatedly calls Morgan “dishonest.” Morgan wrote in his column that Trump at first tried to end the interview, but that Morgan “reminded him that we hadn’t discussed his hole-in-one, which he then sat down again and did.”
Morgan said Trump immediately broke off the interview afterwards.
“Turn the camera off,” Trump said after standing up from his chair. “Very dishonest.”
****BREAKING NEWS****
👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/WdJnPJyMwG— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 20, 2022
However, the recording released by Budowich appears to show that just before Trump’s “turn the camera off” remark, Trump and Morgan thanked each other for the interview.
“That was a great interview,” Morgan says. After Trump responds “yeah,” Morgan adds, “Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.”
According to Budowich, Trump said “very dishonest” after Budowich criticized Morgan for stretching out the interview longer than initially planned. Budowich can be heard in the recording telling Morgan, “You’ve said ‘the last question’ four times now, so I feel like you’re lying at this point.”
The interview is scheduled to air on April 25.
Trump has repeatedly refused to publicly accept the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which he was defeated by Joe Biden. Morgan said he told Trump during the interview that Trump’s refusal to admit defeat led to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Morgan left his previous post on Good Morning Britain on ITV after claiming on air that he didn’t believe some of Meghan Markle’s statements from her interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.