‘Watch Them Start to Choke Like Dogs’: Trump Narrated the Yates Testimony to Time Reporters
Three TIME Magazine reporters were taken on a lengthy tour of the White House by President Donald Trump for an extensive story, which is packed with revelations on the president’s life inside the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
During the tour, Trump took the reporters to the White House dining room, where he has installed a “new 60-plus-inch flat-screen television” above the fireplace. According to TIME:
A clutch of aides follow him, including McMaster, Pence and press secretary Sean Spicer. The President raises a remote and flicks on the screen, sorting through old recordings of cable news shows, until he comes to what he is after: a clip from the Senate hearing earlier in the day, as broadcast on Fox News.
The president then narrated the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing into Russia interference in the 2016 election, in which former acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former National Intelligence director James Clapper testified.
Trump — who in the interview refers to TiVo as “one of the great inventions of all time” — cued up a clip of Senator Lindsey Graham asking Clapper if there is still no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
When Clapper admitted nothing had changed, Trump reportedly said: “Yes. He was choking on that.”
“Is there any record at all of collusion? He was the head of the whole thing. He said no. That’s a big statement,” Trump continued. That commentary would form the basis of a Tweet sent out by the president later that evening:
Director Clapper reiterated what everybody, including the fake media already knows- there is “no evidence” of collusion w/ Russia and Trump.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2017
The TIME story points out that the investigation has not reached any conclusions, and Clapper has been out of government for months.
Next up, Trump played a clip Senator Chuck Grassley asking Clapper and Yates if they’d ever unmasked anyone from the Trump campaign.
From TIME:
“Watch them start to choke like dogs,” Trump says, having fun. “Watch what happens. They are desperate for breath.”
Clapper, on the screen, pauses several beats to search his memory. “Ah, he’s choking. Ah, look,” the President says. After a delay, Clapper finally answers, admitting that he had requested an unmasking, which would have been a routine occurrence in his former job. The running Trump commentary continues. “See the people in the back, people are gasping,” he says, though it’s unclear who he is referring to on the screen.
Trump has long favored comparing his opponents to dogs. A quick search of his Tweets reveals he has used the term dozens of times, including but not limited to:
Mitt Romney had his chance to beat a failed president but he choked like a dog. Now he calls me racist-but I am least racist person there is
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2016
Robert Pattinson should not take back Kristen Stewart. She cheated on him like a dog & will do it again–just watch. He can do much better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2012
Little @MacMiller, I’m now going to teach you a big boy lesson about lawsuits and finance. You ungrateful dog!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2013
.@georgewillf is perhaps the most boring political pundit on television. Got thrown off ABC like a dog. At Mar-a-Lago he was a total bust!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2015
I hear that sleepy eyes @chucktodd will be fired like a dog from ratings starved Meet The Press? I can’t imagine what is taking so long!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 13, 2015
.@GlennBeck got fired like a dog by #Fox. The Blaze is failing and he wanted to have me on his show. I said no – because he is irrelevant.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 17, 2015
Wow was Ted Cruz disloyal to his very capable director of communication. He used him as a scape goat-fired like a dog! Ted panicked.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 23, 2016
.@DavidGregory got thrown off of TV by NBC, fired like a dog! Now he is on @CNN being nasty to me. Not nice!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2016
The full TIME story includes a number of other insights into Trump’s time in his new home, including a description of the president’s eating habits — he likes extra sauce and extra scoops of ice cream — as well as planned renovations to the White House decor Trump is personally overseeing.
[image via screengrab]
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