Did Donald Trump Really Storm Out Of An Interview With Piers Morgan?

Once upon a time, Donald Trump and Piers Morgan seemed to be on the best of terms. When the British journalist was a contestant on "The Celebrity Apprentice" back in 2008, his marketing savvy impressed Trump enough to declare him the winner (via the Chicago Tribune). Their relationship grew chillier, however, after Trump was elected president. Morgan was openly critical of some of Trump's policies, including his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, "we had a reasonable understanding of each other's personalities, good and bad," Morgan wrote in a recent column for The Sun. "And I mistakenly assumed he didn't really mind me verbally whacking him from time to time."

But it seems Morgan's words came back to haunt him shortly before he interviewed the former president for his new Fox Nation show, "Piers Morgan Uncensored" (per New York Post). His column for The Sun claims that just hours before the sit-down was to take place, an anonymous source sent Trump a document containing all the unflattering comments Morgan had made about him over the years. Among them was Morgan's reaction to the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, in which he called for Trump to be "removed from office as soon as possible."

Trump was "almost foaming at the mouth" with fury as he called Morgan "disloyal" and "fake." He finally consented to go ahead with the interview, but that wasn't the end of the drama.

Piers Morgan's recent column for The Sun goes on to explain that his interview with Donald Trump started off well. Originally scheduled for 20 minutes, Trump let the session go on for an hour and a half as they had "a fascinating, often riveting, and sometimes hilarious" discussion about various news topics. Then the atmosphere between Morgan and his one-time friend took a much darker turn as the host brought up the 2020 election. 

As seen in a YouTube preview billed as "The Most Explosive Interview of the Year," Morgan told Trump, "It was a free and fair election, and you lost." Trump retorted, "Only a fool would think that." The host asked, "Do you think I'm a fool?" to which Trump responds, "I do now, yeah." (Morgan's column adds that Trump repeated, "You're a fool! And you haven't studied.") Morgan writes, "Now abandoning any pretense at cordiality, Trump ranted that he was far more honest than me, and again sneered that I wasn't 'real' before haranguing me for exceeding our 20 minutes."

The preview shows Trump's sweating face as he continues to berate Morgan. Then we see him abruptly get up, saying, "Turn the camera off." As he walks out of the frame, he's heard saying, "Very dishonest." 

To the viewer, it looks as though Trump abandoned the interview in a rage. But the former president tells a very different story.

As word spread that Donald Trump's infamous temper had once again gotten the better of him during the interview, his camp quickly provided damage control. NBC News received an audio recording of the sit-down from Trump's communications director, Taylor Budowich. The outlet reports that the recording contains no sign of a fight, nor does it indicate that the former president left the interview in a huff.

The audio captured Morgan saying, "That was a great interview." Meanwhile, the "turn the camera off" direction appears to have been given by Trump after the interview ended. Budowich also says that while Trump did call Morgan "very deceptive," this was a reaction to Morgan's efforts to keep the interview going long after the 20 allotted minutes. 

Trump's spokesperson is accusing parent company News Corp of editing the preview to present a false narrative. "This is a pathetic attempt to use President Trump as a way to revive the career of a failed television host," Budowich told NBC. "It is also another example of President Trump being right, as he told Piers Morgan that the host was dishonest to his face and Piers, for the first time in his life, didn't disappoint." 

At the time of writing, Morgan has not responded to these claims. "Perhaps we'll never speak again, and our friendship is over?" he wrote in The Sun.