Kovaleski countered that as a reporter for the New York Daily News in the late 1980s and early 1990s he regularly covered Trump. … Despite having one of the all-time great memories I certainly do not remember him." Trump insisted that he couldn’t have known the man was disabled because "I have no idea who this reporter, Serge Kovaleski is, what he looks like or his level of intelligence. He also said in a statement at the time, "I merely mimicked what I thought would be a flustered reporter trying to get out of a statement he made long ago." He tweeted, "Clinton made a false ad about me where I was imitating a reporter GROVELING after he changed his story. That if you can't control your speech or part of your body that you're not competent, which is very destructive" to the image of disabled people facing stereotypes and discrimination, she added.īut Trump denied it. Reiskin said such behavior by Trump "portrays people with disabilities as incompetent. That was very, very obvious, because he disagrees with all kinds of people at other times, and he doesn't use that voice or wave his arms like that." (Reiskin said she was giving her view since her nonprofit group can't endorse or oppose candidates.) Julie Reiskin, executive director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, an advocacy group, said that Trump "clearly was mocking his disability. The New York Times rebuked Trump in a statement: "We think it's outrageous that he would ridicule the appearance of one of our reporters." And people who share Kovaleski’s condition - formally known as arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, or AMC - and their families launched a social media campaign with the hashtag "AMCStrong." Many observers took Trump’s comments and motions as mocking Kovaleski. ( Watch a video of him talking about his ground-breaking reporting on the murder cases against former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez.) Kovaleski speaks with a normal voice and doesn't wave his arms around. Kovaleski has arthrogryposis, a congenital condition which limits the movement of his joints and has left his right hand sharply angled at the wrist. Remember, Kovaleski wrote that "a number of people" - not thousands - were allegedly seen celebrating.Īt the rally where he discussed Kovaleski, Trump said, "You gotta see this guy" and wildly flailed his arms, his right hand flopping at an odd angle as he shouted in a weird, agitated voice: "Ahh, I don’t know what I said! Ahh, I don’t remember!" That was not the case, as best as I can remember," Kovaleski told the Washington Post Fact Checker in November 2015. "I certainly do not remember anyone saying that thousands or even hundreds of people were celebrating. However, the reporters couldn’t verify the celebrations actually occurred, as Kovaleski later explained. Near the bottom of the story, the Post reporters wrote that "law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river." 18, 2001, story co-written by Kovaleski, who was a Washington Post reporter at the time. To defend this account, Trump cited a Sept. At the time, Trump was taking heat for his widely debunked claims that he watched in Jersey City, N.J., as "thousands and thousands of people were cheering" the collapse of the World Trade Center following the Sept. 24, 2015, Trump referred to New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski. So who’s right? Here’s the background, which we have looked at before.Īt at a campaign rally in South Carolina on Nov. This time, it revolved around remarks Trump made almost a year ago about a disabled reporter.Īt one point in the third presidential debate in Las Vegas, Hillary Clinton said, "He also went after a disabled reporter, mocked and mimicked him on national television." Once again, a comment by Donald Trump has become a point of contention in a presidential debate.
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