Trump denies ever having met the disabled New York Times reporter he is accused of cruelly mimicking and says he 'should stop using his disability to GRANDSTAND'
- Donald Trump in under fire for allegedly imitating New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, who is disabled, during a campaign speech Wednesday
- Kovaleski has chronic condition that affects his ability to move his arms
- In a statement, Trump said he couldn't have been making fun of Kovaleski since he doesn't know what he looks like
- Kovaleski believes Trump knows what he was doing, since he covered Trump during his time working for the New York Daily News
- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist wrote an article in 2001 that said police questioned a number of people allegedly celebrating 9/11 attacks
- Trump has said he saw 'thousands of people' celebrating in New Jersey
- Billionaire was blasting Kovaleski for saying he doesn't recall celebrations
- New York Times said Trump was 'outrageous' to 'ridicule' the reporter
- The Ruderman Family Foundation offered Trump sensitivity training sessions to help him better understand people with disabilities
- See full news coverage of Donald Trump at www.dailymail.co.uk/trump
Has Donald Trump gone too far this time?
The Republican presidential hopeful is under fire for mocking a New York Times reporter with an 'outrageous' impression of the the journalist's physical handicap during a campaign speech on Wednesday.
Not only has the New York Times come to the defense of their reporter, but the journalist's colleagues and the public at large have taken to social media to express their disgust with the brash candidate.
'Donald Trump making fun of a handicapped reporter. How sorry can one get. This guy wants to be president? What a joke!' one Twitter user named Richard Kirby wrote on Thursday.
Trump released a statement Thanksgiving afternoon that said: 'Serge Kovaleski must think a lot of himself if he thinks I remember him from decades ago – if I ever met him at all, which I doubt I did.
'He should stop using his disability to grandstand and get back to reporting for a paper that is rapidly going down the tubes.'
Scroll down for video and Trump's full statement on the scandal
Donald Trump has come under fire for an 'outrageous' impression of a disabled New York Times reporter
The Republican presidential candidate mocked esteemed journalist Serge Kovaleski, who suffers from a chronic condition which effects the movement in his arms
Trump laid into Kovaleski (right), doing an impression that saw him flail his limp arms around his head while putting on a strange voice
Trump has been at odds with esteemed Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, ever since the real estate mogul made controversial statements, claiming 'thousands of thousands' of Arabs were celebrating in the streets of New Jersey after the 9/11 attacks.
When Trump's claims were debunked, he said he had based his statements on an article Kovaleski wrote fourteen years ago for the Washington Post.
However, Kovaleski said that he wrote reports of 'a number of people...allegedly' celebrating in New Jersey, but that he never actually saw these revelers and that he has no idea where Trump got the number in the thousands.
Instead of admitting he had gotten the statement wrong, Trump went on the offensive against Kovaleski on Wednesday, mocking the reporter's physical condition that impacts his ability to move his arms.
In a campaign stop in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Trump laid into the journalist, doing an impression that saw him flail his arms while putting on a strange voice.
Before the distasteful imitation, Trump said the story was 'written by a nice reporter'.
But he continued: 'Now the poor guy, you gotta see this guy: "Uh, I don’t know what I said. I don’t remember." He’s going, "I don’t remember. Maybe that’s what I said."'
Kovaleski, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who now works for the New York Times, was born with arthrogryposis.
The condition can cause sufferers' joints to get stuck in one position and can also see people born with weaker or missing muscles.
When Trump started to receive backlash from the imitation, he issued a statement saying he had 'no idea who 'Serge 'Kovalski' (notably spelling his last name wrong) is despite the fact that the reporter covered Trump when he worked a the New York Daily News and Trump claims to have 'one of the all-time great memories'.
'His recent statement, to me, seemed like (again without knowing what he looks like) he was groveling and searching for a way out from what he wrote many years before.
'In my speech before over 10,000 people in Myrtle Beach, SC, I merely mimicked what I thought would be a flustered reporter trying to get out of a statement he made long ago.
'If Mr. Kovaleski is handicapped, I would not know because I do not know what he looks like. If I did know, I would definitely not say anything about his appearance,' Trump said
Trump went on to claim he has spent tens of millions of dollars making sure his buildings are handicap accessible.
He then attacked the new York Times for 'trying to make a story of of nothing' while also refusing to back down from his heavily refuted claims.
'Over the last number of days, since this issue arose, I have received many phone calls and tweets (@RealDonaldTrump) from people that said I was right about Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the fall of the World Trade Center. Throughout the world it was openly celebrated and so reported,' Trump claimed.
Kovaleski, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist wrote an article in 2001 that said police questioned a number of people allegedly celebrating 9/11 attacks
Unreliable source: Trump tweeted an array of articles he claims support his view, including one by conspiracy theory website Infowars
Trump took to Twitter to blast the New York Times for taking 'constant hits' at him in what was a thinly-veiled swipe at their response to his impression
Sources in the campaign, speaking on anonymity, previously told the Washington Post that Trump was 'not aware of any condition and was not mocking his physical appearance in any way.'
Kovaleski said he's certain the candidate remembers him and his condition.
'The sad part about it is, it didn’t in the slightest bit jar or surprise me that Donald Trump would do something this low-rent, given his track record,' Kovaleski told the Post .
A spokeswoman for the Times said: 'We think it's outrageous that he would ridicule the appearance of one of our reporters.'
Kovaleski's colleagues at other publications also jumped to his defense.
ESPN reporter Don Van Natta JR tweeted that Kovaleski 'is one of the best reporters - and best people- that I know' and called Trump's impression 'despicable'.
'The measure of men. Know this: Serge Kovaleski...is a journalistic rock star and one great colleague,' Times reporter Dan Barry tweeted.
The Ruderman Family Foundation offered Trump sensitivity training sessions to help him better understand people with disabilities.
A petition calling on the Republican front-runner to apologize has also been circulating online.
That prospect looks somewhat unlikely, however, with Trump taking to Twitter to blast the New York Times for taking 'constant hits' at him in what was a thinly veiled swipe at their response to his impression.
He wrote: 'The failing @nytimes should be focused on good reporting and the papers financial survival and not with constant hits on Donald Trump!'
Trump also tweeted an array of articles he claims support his view that there were thousands of Arabs celebrating the September 11 attacks in New Jersey.
Kovaleski, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who now works for the New York Times, was born with arthrogryposis, which affects the movement of his arms
However among these was a link to conspiracy theory website Infowars, which is run by Alex Jones - known for his bizarre statements on 9/11 and the moon landings.
The person who wrote the article claims they saw 'a pocket' of people in 'traditional Muslim garb dancing, jumping, shouting and celebrating like their team had won the Super Bowl, just as Trump said'.
There is no evidence to substantiate the claim.
Back in 2001, a week after the attacks, Kovaleski wrote: 'Law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river.'
He told CNN this week: 'I do not recall anyone saying there were thousands, or even hundreds, of people celebrating.'
Trump said last week during a campaign stop in Birmingham, Alabama, that he saw 'thousands of people cheering' as the World Trade Center collapsed.
He repeated his claims on ABC on Sunday, saying: 'There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down.'
- Northern New Jersey Draws Probers' Eyes - The Washington Post
- www.change.org/p...
- I Live In Jersey And Trump Is Right: Muslims DID Celebrate On 9/11 In NJ . . . We Saw It! » Infowars Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!
- Trump blasted by New York Times after mocking reporter with disability - The Washington Post
- Donald Trump mocks disabled New York Times reporter
- ISIS taunts America and the West in new propaganda video
- Video shows white cop shooting black teen SIXTEEN TIMES
- Watch woman's AMAZING Kylie Jenner make-up transformation
- Robot refuses to follow orders given by a human
- UFO mystery sparked by photo from near Area 51 military base
- Cute 3-year-old knows the entire periodic table of elements
- Obama pardons Turkey at White House ceremony
- Footage allegedly shows rebels shooting down Russian pilots
- Heartwarming deleted lesbian Love Actually scene revealed
- Star jump exercise baffles troops training in Iraq
- New dash cam video shows Chicago cop chasing Laquan McDonald
- EXCLUSIVE: Porn stars, crack cocaine, private jets, HIV and...
- Trump denies ever having met the disabled New York Times...
- Thugs hurling stones, cars set on fire and refugee children...
- OK Dad, we'll laugh at your jokes - just pardon the turkey:...
- New dashcam video shows SUV-driving cop chasing down fleeing...
- Is this man DB Cooper? Author believes missing Michigan...
- ISIS taunt America in new video urging them to 'bring it on'...
- Teenage Islamist 'poster girl' who fled Austria to join ISIS...
- Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani says white Chicago cop...
- Tragic last photograph of a bubbly toddler: Mother shares...
- Turkey accuses Russia of SLANDER for saying they buy oil...
- 'I have a lot to be grateful for': Mark Zuckerberg shares...