Trump Falsely Accuses Bloomberg Of Printing His Off-The-Record Comments: ‘Very Dishonorable People!’
Shortly after confirming he told Bloomberg in comments he deemed off the record that he wouldn’t be compromising with Canada on NAFTA, President Donald Trump seemingly — and falsely — accused Bloomberg of being the outlet that printed his inflammatory remarks.
“I gave an interview yesterday to Bloomberg Business, and I said off the record, and I made a statement about Canada which is fine because I love Canada but they have taken advantage of our country for many years,” Trump said Friday afternoon at a signing event.
After complaining about Canadian tariffs on dairy and offering to sing the Canadian anthem — yes, that happened — the president railed against Bloomberg for supposedly publishing remarks he had said were off limits.
“I said off the record, off the record, I said something strong, that is my belief,” POTUS exclaimed. “They violated it and they said they were violating it. It is unbelievable what is happening with the fake news. It is unbelievable.”
.@realDonaldTrump just falsely accused Bloomberg of violating off the record agreement from their interview w/ him yesterday. Bloomberg didn't violate the off the record agreement. Another outlet that obtained audio of the interview reported on the OTR comments — very different.
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) August 31, 2018
He continued, “When you say off the record, that is a very, it is not a legal term but it is a term of honor. So when I say off the record, here’s the story in order to save time, I don’t want to waste a lot of time, they say, they printed my off the record. They said, ‘President Trump said off the record.’ Then they go on to this — I said this is a first. These are very dishonorable people. But I said, in the end, it is okay because at least Canada knows how I feel. So it’s fine.”
He finished this little tangent by stating he learned about this when he departed a plane and expressed shock over the leak, adding that normally they say “I thought it was on the record.”
For the actual record, the off-the-record comments may have occurred in his Bloomberg interview but they were actually obtained and printed by the Toronto Star. After the Star’s piece went up, Bloomberg released a statement that said: “When we agree that something is off the record, we respect that.”
Meanwhile, more and more fingers are pointing to Trump himself as the actual leaker, with the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman noting that most “people close to White House have raised possibility that Trump ordered it put out.”
Watch the clip above, via Fox Business.
