Former President Donald Trump reportedly grew frustrated with an NBC News reporter and wanted him to be kicked off of his plane during a press gaggle.
After a campaign event in Waco, Texas, on Mar. 25, Trump spoke to a group of reporters on his plane.
According to The Washington Post, the group of reporters included NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard, Brian Glenn of Right Side Broadcasting Network, Axios’ Sophia Cai, The Daily Mail’s Rob Crilly, and Evan Vucci, a photographer with The Associated Press.
The moment came a week after he predicted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg would arrest him and days before the news broke that a grand jury voted to indict him on Mar. 30.
The Washington Post, which obtained an audio recording of the exchange, notes Trump began the discussion by asking if the reporters enjoyed his rally — and boasting about the crowd size as he claimed there were “25,000-plus people” in attendance.
“You know, there’s never been anything like it in history. If Ronald Reagan came back from the dead — which would be very nice, actually — or a popular politician, you would have 300, 400 people,” he said.
He also used the opportunity to knock Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as he said, “Ron DeSanctimonious had 179. So far, that’s been his biggest crowd in Iowa.”
When asked about Bragg’s investigation into hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election, Trump said, “They have no evidence, they have no anything.”
Hillyard later insisted the former president “seemed frustrated” by the probe. However, Trump interrupted him as he shot back, “I’m not frustrated by anything. What am I, frustrated? — I just did a speech for two hours.”
“I’m not frustrated by it. It’s a fake investigation. We did nothing wrong — I told you that… It’s the exact opposite. This is fake news, and NBC is one of the worst at it. Don’t ask me any more questions,” he added.
After talking about Bragg’s case, the Post reports Trump later returned to criticizing Hillyard, saying, “I heard you’re a nice guy from NBC, but you’re not.”
When the NBC News reporter asked him about playing video clips from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and whether the violence was “justifiable,” Trump said, “I’m not for violence at all. But a lot of people are upset… I’m not in favor of violence.”
Eventually, Hillyard tried to ask a question, however, he was shot down as the former president said, “I don’t want to talk to you.”
“You’re not a nice guy,” he added.
When the reporter continued to try to ask a question, Trump said, “Let’s go, get him out of here. Outta here! Outta here!”
Trump then asked if a phone on the table belonged to Hillyard.
The Post added, “In the audio, a soft thud can be heard as Trump tossed the phones to the side. The journalists were ushered away from Trump, who remained seated at the table, according to a person on the flight who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the exchange.”
A spokesman for the Trump campaign told the Post in an email Trump “has had many mainstream reporters on the plane this election (including from Washington Post) and no negative incidents” occurred.
