Donald Trump slammed over rude rant to reporter who fact checked him
Topics: Donald Trump, Entertainment, Politics, US News
Lucy Devine
Featured Image Credit: ABC News
Topics: Donald Trump, Entertainment, Politics, US News
US President Donald Trump has been criticised over his response to a reporter who fact checked him during an interview.
Earlier this week, Trump sat down with ABC News' Terry Moran to mark his first 100 days in office.
During the chat, the pair discussed the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man and father-of-one who was accidentally deported to El Salvador in March due to an 'administrative error'.
Abrego Garcia - a union sheet metal apprentice - was suddenly arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who accused him of having a 'prominent role in MS-13'.
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The group refers to an international criminal gang that was originally set up in the 80s in a bid to protect Salvadoran immigrants from fellow Los Angeles criminal gangs.
Appealing his case, Abrego Garcia's attorney previously insisted that he has no affiliation to the criminal gang in question, prompting the Trump administration to admit that his deportation was an 'administrative error'.
A return request was later put into place by a lower court judge, giving Trump's team a 'deadline' to have Abrego Garcia reunited with his family.
However, a Supreme Court official later blocked the lower court's deadline order, meaning the Trump administration are no longer compelled to have Abrego Garcia returned to the States.
In a recent update, Trump spoke about the case, telling Moran that the official who called his deportation an 'error' shouldn't have done so.
After pointing out that the president could return Abrego Garcia, Trump said: "I could, and if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that."
Instead, Trump said that Abrego Garcia is not innocent, and referred to an alleged 'MS-13' tattoo on his hand.
This is where the interview became pretty tense, with Moran pointing out that there has been widespread dispute about the tattoo and its alleged meaning.
"Hey, Terry. Terry, Terry. Don't do that... It says M-S-1-3," said Trump, to which Moran responded: "That was photoshopped."
The president then hit back: "That was photoshopped? Terry, you can't do that... hey, they're giving you the big break of a lifetime. You know, you're doing the interview.
"I picked you because frankly I never heard of you, but that's okay... Terry, you're not being very nice."
Moran clarified that Abrego Garcia had tattoos that could 'be interpreted that way' but Trump insisted: "Terry, no, no. No, no. He had MS as clear as you can be. Not interpreted."
"When he was photographed in El Salvador, they aren't there. But let's just go on," said Moran, later suggesting they 'agree to disagree'.
People were shocked at Trump's comments, with one person writing on social media: "That’s what he does when he’s losing the argument."
While another said: "He really doesn't like accountability."
Tyla has reached out to the White House for comment.