Donald Trump has been ridiculed by courthouse staff after he claimed they "were actually crying" when he was arrested and brought before a judge in New York.
The former US president made the claims during his first TV interview since pleading not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records over hush money payments, the Mirror reports.
“They were incredible. When I went to the courthouse which is also a prison in a sense, they signed me in and I’ll tell you people were crying,” he said.
“People that work there. Professionally work there that have no problems putting in murderers and they see everybody. It’s a tough, tough place and they were crying. They were actually crying. They said I’m sorry.”
However, staffers at the Manhattan court were quick to brand Trump's claims as "laughable".
One told The Mirror: “The only thing Mr Trump was truthful on is that yes we do see murderers but at all times we remain professional. No one shed any tears whether they support him or not.
“We are trained to be courteous and polite but we don’t show emotion like that - particularly over an arraignment. You’d think the way he spoke he was the victim of the biggest miscarriage of justice in history.
“It’s laughable. No one cried. No one.”
A video taken inside the courthouse last week actually showed employees refusing to hold open the door for the 76-year-old as he entered the courtroom.
Trump is well known for making claims about people crying when meeting him - however no such incidents have ever been caught on camera.
On Twitter, users were quick to poke fun at the businessman's claims.
One person said: “Here’s Trump again repeating the old lie about how people were crying. Dude has a weird tears fetish.”
Another added: “I’m sure they were laughing under their breath not crying you’re probably laughing now that he even said anything so stupid.”
Trump made the claims during an interview with Fox anchor Tucker Carlson. The TV presenter met with Trump at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate in the first interview since he was arraigned for charges over paying hush money to former porn star Stormy Daniels
The hour-long interview was punctuated with Carlson enthusiastically praising Trump, at one point describing what he had to say as "moderate, sensible and wise". The interview has been widely condemned as propaganda.
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