'Great Interview': Listen to 'Unedited' Audio of Trump-Morgan's Talk Showing Cordial Discussion
22:53 GMT 21.04.2022 (Updated: 19:37 GMT 19.10.2022)
© AP Photo / Louis LanzanoDonald Trump, left, and Piers Morgan arrive for the Perfumania party celebrating the appearance of Kim Kardashian on the reality show "The Apprentice", Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010, in New York.
© AP Photo / Louis Lanzano
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On Wednesday, a preview clip for Piers Morgan's interview with the former president went viral, with Trump appearing to slam Morgan and even storming out of the interview. Despite the fact that the 45th and his allies called it a lie, Morgan defended the point of view that he did not edit anything and the interview was actually heated.
It turns out contentious TV presenter Piers Morgan was not the only one recording the conversation with the former US president.
Despite what Morgan initially showed in a preview of the interview, the journalist in fact seemingly complimented Donald Trump for a "great interview" in the audio shared by the Trump team with Breitbart.
According to the former president's statement on Thursday, the British TV host "attempted to unlawfully and deceptively edit his long and tedious interview" with Trump.
"He wanted to make it look like I walked out on the interview when my time limit of 20 minutes went over by an hour," Trump wrote. "The good news is that the interview was taped by us as a means of keeping him honest."
Instead, according to the audio, which Trump also shared, his team informed Morgan after over an hour of discussion with him that "we're an hour in, we need to wrap." Morgan then apparently continued to ask roughly five more questions before calling the interview to a close.
Only after that, Trump requested that the cameras and lights be turned off.
All in all, the more-than-seven-minute audio file contains the part in which Trump does call his interviewer “not real" and "dishonest." In the recording, Trump can be heard saying that he believed he was "a very honest man, much more honest" than Morgan.
"Really? I'm pretty honest," Morgan said.
"I don't think you're real," Trump continued. "I think I'm a much more honest person in most ways and most respects."
After that, the former president skirted: "But we're not going to get into that. Let's finish up the interview."
"That was a great interview. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it," Morgan can be heard telling Trump, to which the former president replied: "Thank you."
The day prior, Morgan's team released a 30-second trailer previewing their sit-down with what appeared to be a confrontational Trump, and this audio shows what appears to be a more cordial interview with the former president.
Since the clip went viral, Morgan has claimed in a series of tweets that it was not improperly edited, and that Trump departed because he was irritated by queries about the 2020 election and voter fraud. A voiceover suggesting Trump is a "former president in denial" and showing him calling Morgan a "fool" were spliced into footage.
But, "for those who want to make Piers look bad," Trump wrote, "compare his video promo and how it was doctored to the real thing. Hopefully they will now be doing some big changes to their final product."
Moreover, via his Save America PAC, the former president issued a statement in response to the allegedly altered video excerpt, claiming Morgan was "rigging" what he said in the interview. He also reiterated that he did not leave the video-recorded conversation.
"Piers got caught red-handed, and the interview that I rather enjoyed doing is now in shambles," he said.