‘You gotta see this guy’: Donald Trump lambasted for mocking disabled New York Times reporter
Donald Trump is facing a firestorm of criticism after her appeared to mock a New York Times journalist by mimicking his disability during a campaign speech.
However, Trump denied targeting Sege Kovaleski’s distinctive curled arm and twitching movement in his speech, in which he called Kovaleski a “poor guy” and said “you gotta see this guy” before launching into what looked like an impression of the journalist.
WATCH: Donald Trump mocks disabled reporter
“I have no idea who this reporter, Serge Kovalski [sic] is, what he looks like or his level of intelligence,” Trump said in a statement issued by his campaign on Thursday afternoon.
“I don’t know if he is [Houston Texans defensive end] JJ Watt or Muhammad Ali in his prime – or somebody of less athletic ability.”
In his speech to supporters on Tuesday night, Trump derided Kovaleski - a reporter for the newspaper who has disputed Trump’s claim that he saw “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrate the 9/11 attacks – while flailing and twisting his arms.
Kovaleski, who has arthrogryposis, a congenital condition that affects joint movement, worked for the Washington Post at the time of the 9/11 attacks and was one of the authors of an article that Trump has citied in support of his claim.
Earlier this week, Kovaleski said he did not recall Trump’s account of what happened in Jersey City on 9/11.
“We did a lot of shoe leather reporting in and around Jersey City and talked to a lot of residents and officials for the broader story,” Kovaleski said on CNN. “Much of that has, indeed, faded from memory.
“I do not recall anyone saying there were thousands, or even hundreds, of people celebrating. That was not the case, as best as I can remember.”
In his Thursday statement, Trump said: “I know nothing about [Kovaleski] other than I have great respect for the way he wrote the story on 18 September 2001, and in particular the paragraph talking about Muslims and tailgate parties taking place in New Jersey.”
At the Tuesday rally in South Carolina, Trump ridiculed the journalist, telling supporters: “Now the poor guy. You gotta see this guy: ‘Err, I don’t know what I said. I don’t remember.’”
As he spoke, Trump pulled his arms up to his chest and flailed about in what looked like an imitation of the journalist’s distinctive disability.
In his Thursday statement, Trump said he had not been aware of the journalist’s disability and “merely mimicked what I thought would be a flustered reporter trying to get out of a statement he made long ago”.
Kovaleski told the Washington Post: “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.”
A spokesperson for the New York Times told Politico: “We think it’s outrageous that he would ridicule the appearance of one of our reporters.”
