Donald Trump is under fire after he appeared to ridicule a reporter with a congenital joint condition that limits movement in his arms.
The 69-year-old Republican presidential candidate has been caught mimicking a disabled New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski.
The Donald has repeatedly cited a Washington Post article written by Serge a week after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City, which says “a number of people were allegedly seen celebrating” in northern New Jersey. He’s been bringing it up on several campaign stops, but his latest mention featured Donald openly mocking Serge’s condition.
He’s been on the campaign trail citing an article written by the esteemed journalist, he then appeared to impersonate Kovaleski.
"Now, the poor guy — you ought to see the guy: 'Uh, I don't know what I said. I don't remember,'" Trump said, as he contorted his arms in an apparent imitation of Kovaleski, who suffers from arthrogryposis.
Arthrogryposis is a condition that can cause joints to get stuck in one position and victims are often born with weaker or missing muscles.
Kovaleski just a day earlier had told MSNBC's Steve Kornacki that he did "not recall anyone saying there were thousands, or even hundreds, of people celebrating."
A spokeswoman for the New York Times said, “We think it’s outrageous that he would ridicule the appearance of one of our reporters.” Serge has personally taken to his Twitter account November 26 to share links about the shameful incident.
Trump on Thursday defended his controversial behavior, claiming he was not familiar with Kovaleski's appearance and not aware of his condition.
"I do not know the reporter for the @nytimes, or what he looks like. I was showing a person groveling to take back a statement made long ago!" he tweeted.
Trump claimed that he had "merely mimicked what I thought would be a flustered reporter trying to get out of a statement he made long ago." He added he has "tremendous respect for people who are physically challenged."
