Local Reporter Confronts Trump About Vowing He Was ‘Never Coming Back’ If He Lost Minnesota
A local St. Paul, Minnesota reporter confronted former President Donald Trump about his past comments vowing never to return to Minnesota if he lost the state in 2020.
The ex-president will be in St. Paul Friday evening to speak at the state Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner. He spoke to KSTP’s Tom Hauser via a remote video call from Trump Tower in New York City, where he is currently on trial facing criminal charges related to alleged hush money payments to cover up extramarital affairs.
Trump has lamented how the trial restricts his campaign schedule. According to KSTP, the Twin Cities’ local ABC affiliate, the interview was conducted “just minutes” before Trump left for the Manhattan courtroom to listen to the ongoing testimony and cross-examination of his former attorney, Michael Cohen.
Trump repeated several of his common complaints about the trial, telling Hauser that the case was a “witch hunt” and “weaponization of government,” and attacked the judge as “very conflicted.”
Later in the interview, Hauser asked Trump about comments he made in September 2020 at a rally in Duluth.
“I think at one point you vowed never to come back to Minnesota after you lost the state in 2020,” said Hauser. “Is this a signal that you think you have a realistic chance to win the state of Minnesota in 2024?”
Trump responded by denying he had said that and claiming he actually won the state.
“Well, I never said I’d never come back; I never even thought of that,” said Trump. “I thought I won in 2020 – easily.”
Video from that 2020 Duluth campaign rally shows Trump saying, “If I lose Minnesota, I’m never coming back, I don’t care. I’m never coming back.”
Hauser did note in his reporting that Trump “appeared to be joking,” but nonetheless did in fact say those words and then go on to lose the state by seven points.
Polls show President Joe Biden has been leading Trump by two points for the past four months in a row, 44 percent to 42 percent, with 9 percent saying “other,” and 5 percent undecided.
Watch the video above via KSTP.
