Donald Trump denies mocking disabled reporter

Donald Trump is leading the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination (AFP Photo/Joshua Lott) By no means one to back down when he’s wrong, 2016 GOP presidential front runner Donald Trump doubled down on his attack on a disabled reporter, accusing him of using his disability to “grandstand” after the candidate came under fire for mocking him.

“Now, the poor guy – you’ve got to see this guy, ‘Ah, I don’t know what I said!”

Trump was challenging recollections by Kovaleski and many others about the September 11 aftermath. He accused Kovaleski of backing off a story from a week after the 9/11 attacks that said authorities in New Jersey detained and questioned “a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks”.

The story did not suggest “thousands” were celebrating, as Trump claimed, and a story then by The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey, said the reports of such celebrations by Muslims proved unfounded.

He also sought an apology from New York Times which earlier issued a statement condemning him for ridiculing its reporter. You gotta see this guy: ‘Err, I don’t know what I said. He’s going like ‘I don’t remember.

Remarking upon the incident Kovaleski said: “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”. Trump indicated as much himself in the speech on Tuesday, when he said, before he began an apparent impersonation with a series of jerking arm movements, that the article had been “written by a nice reporter”.

The Washington Post has since added an addendum to the piece Trump cited and added a link to a fact check that disproved Trump’s claim.

Mr Kovaleski reported on Mr Trump between 1987 and 1993. He said that in his speech he simply mimicked what he thought would be a nervous reporter trying to get out of a statement he had made long ago.

On Thursday, Trump posted a statement on his Twitter account saying “I have no idea” who Kovaleski is and claiming to have “one of the all-time great memories”.

Trump later denied knowing Kovaleski, insisting he was only mocking his journalism. “All in all, I would say around a dozen times, I’ve interacted with him as a reporter…”