Bad Idea: Trump Mocks Reporter With Disability

He threw his arms around during impression of Serge Kovaleski
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 26, 2015 6:29 AM CST
Updated Nov 26, 2015 7:27 AM CST

The New York Times is speaking out against Donald Trump for the second time this week after he appeared to mock a Times reporter's disability. At a rally in South Carolina on Tuesday, Trump continued to defend his claim that "thousands" of people in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 attacks, citing a 2001 Washington Post article by Serge Kovaleski that mentioned "law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks." Earlier Tuesday, Kovaleski—who has limited movement of his arms due to the congenital joint condition arthrogryposis—told CNN that "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."

"Now the poor guy—you ought to see the guy: 'Uhh I don’t know what I said. I don't remember,'" Trump responded, while spinning his arms wildly and placing his hand at the particular angle at which Kovaleski's typically rests, per Politico. "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," Kovaleski tells the Post. "We think it's outrageous that he would ridicule the appearance of one of our reporters," a Times rep adds. Trump, who knows Kovaleski from the reporter's days covering the businessman-turned-politician for the New York Daily News from 1987 to 1993, hasn't commented. He did, however, attack the Times in a series of tweets on Wednesday. (More Donald Trump 2016 stories.)

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