Former President Donald Trump abruptly ended an interview with NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Tuesday after facing questions he didn’t like. The program aired the interview Wednesday, after show host Steve Inskeep shared details on Twitter with the tidbit Trump “hung up on me.”
The former president completed nine of his allotted 15 minutes before hanging up when he was asked about his lies on the 2020 election. He was also asked about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“The vaccines, I recommend taking them, but I think that has to be an individual choice. I mean, it’s got to be individual, but I recommend taking them,” Trump said at one point.
In releasing the interview Wednesday, NPR took care to provide context for Trump’s statements. Along with the one above, Inskeep, Domenico Montanaro and Miles Parks wrote, “The opposition to mandates is popular with Republicans, and the Supreme Court is currently weighing the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers. But his comments come during the record omicron surge, as the unvaccinated are far more likely to be hospitalized or die from the disease, and as Republicans are far more likely to be unvaccinated.”
The digital version of the interview also included quotes from other Republicans and lawmakers to paint a clearer picture of how closely the party is still tied to Trump.
Trump called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell “a loser” and refused to accept the 2020 election results before hanging up. You can listen to the interview here.