Donald Trump’s bizarre claim that New York court staff were “crying” when he was arrested and arraigned is “absolute BS”, according to a report.
The one-term president, who pleaded not guilty to 34 charges of falsifying business documents connected to hush money payments, has been widely mocked for the boast made to Tucker Carlson in a Fox News interview on Tuesday night.
But a law enforcement source told Yahoo!News that there was “zero” truth to Mr Trump’s story and called it “absolute BS.”
“There were zero people crying. There were zero people saying ‘I’m sorry,’” the source told the outlet.
Video footage from inside the courthouse in Manhattan last week actually showed court staff refusing to hold open a door for Mr Trump as he walked in to face a judge.
But that did not stop Mr Trump from regaling Carlson with his colourful version of events.
“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,” Trump told Carlson. “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.’ They said, ‘2024, sir. 2024.’ And tears were pouring down their eyes.”
The former president has routinely told far-fetched stories about people crying when they encounter him, always behind the scenes and off camera and often supposedly involving people associated with the military or law enforcement.
This article was amended the day after publication. It previously inaccurately stated that Mr Trump has pleaded guilty to the 34 charges, but he has denied them all.
