Though Donald Trump’s campaign team defended his abrupt departure from an interview on Russia TV network RT Thursday night as a miscommunication because he thought the taping was for a podcast, Larry King shared a slightly different version of how things played out.
The “Politicking” host told CNN Friday evening Trump “couldn’t have known it was a podcast, because he just did my podcast.” King claimed his show’s producers had contacted Trump’s aides about a TV interview after the two had done a separate interview for King’s podcast channel — unrelated to RT.
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Eleven minutes in to King’s wide-ranging, all-encompassing interview with Trump, the interviewee’s end of the pre-recorded conversation went silent after King asked Trump how he feels about Mexican immigrants. The host terminated the call and refocused the show, but the reason for the disconnect remained unclear for a few hours.
A Trump spokeswoman told Bloomberg’s Kevin Cirilli that Trump had agreed to record “a short interview with Larry King for his podcast as a favor to Mr. King.” Trump had apparently been unaware the interview would be broadcast live on RT.
King maintained Trump’s claim “stretches it a little.” But the abrupt departure, King said, has been over-hyped by the public, who has made a “mountain out of a molehill.” While King added he has not heard from Trump since the interview, the billionaire businessman’s team did reach out to King’s people to apologize for the hang-up and offered to reschedule another appearance next week.
