Someone is fibbing.
Television personality Piers Morgan and former President Donald Trump are telling two different tales about how their contentious recent interview at Mar-a-Lago in Florida came to a close.
Mr. Morgan says Mr. Trump stormed out of an interview after Mr. Morgan challenged his insistence the 2020 election was stolen, releasing a video promo that showed the former president abruptly walking off the set.
Mr. Trump insists that is not the case at all.
In a statement, Mr. Trump accused Mr. Morgan of deceptively editing their interaction, saying an audio clip of the interview proved things concluded in a cordial fashion.
“He wanted to make it look like I walked out on the interview when my time limit of 20 minutes went over by an hour,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “The good news is that the interview was taped by us as a means of keeping him honest.”
“The interview was actually very strong on the 2020 Election Fraud, with me calling him ‘a fool’ if he truly believed those results,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Morgan shared his side of the story in a column for the New York Post.
He wrote that Mr. Trump lost his temper after being challenged over his stolen election claims. Mr. Morgan said he told Mr. Trump his refusal to accept November 2020 defeat to Democrat Joseph R. Biden led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Morgan likened Mr. Trump’s response to the character Col. Nathan Roy Jessup, played by Jack Nicholson in the movie “A Few Good Men.”
“I don’t expect Trump to ever admit he lost the election fairly or confess to being responsible for the January 6 carnage,” he said. “We’ll never hear him say, ‘You’re g——mn right I did!’ like Col. Jessup because, ironically, he can’t handle the truth.”
“Incensed, Trump tried to end things by declaring, ‘That’s it!’ before I reminded him that we hadn’t discussed his hole-in-one, which he then sat down again and did — briefly — before abruptly jumping to his feet, looking hateful, and barking at the shocked crew: ‘TURN THE CAMERAS OFF!’” he said.
Mr. Trump’s Save America PAC countered Thursday by releasing an audio clip that appears to show the interview ended with Mr. Morgan thanking Mr. Trump for taking the time.
“That was a great interview,” Mr. Morgan says in the clip. “Thank you very much.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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