In a radio interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade Thursday, President Donald Trump again referenced Lawrence O’Donnell and the story about the president’s loans he was forced to retract on Wednesday night, suggesting the MSNBC host “sue” his source.
“So, he said he had a single source that said an oligarch cosigned a loan,” Kilmeade said. “Is that true?”
“I don’t believe he had a single source,” Trump responded, “and if he does have a single source, he should sue the source because it’s made him look like — you know, it’s exposed him for being a fraud because, look, Lawrence O’Donnell has been lying about me.”
The topic arose after Kilmeade asked about reports that Trump had told officials he would pardon them if they had to break the law to get the southern border wall constructed.
“Yes, fake news,” Trump said, pivoting to MSNBC as he did Thursday morning on Twitter. “More fake news, just like Lawrence O’Donnell had — listen, Lawrence O’Donnell said the Russians guaranteed a loan for me and it was — look, this guy and almost all of them have been lying for years about me.”
On Tuesday’s “The Last Word” broadcast, O’Donnell said a “single source close to Deutsche Bank” told him that loan documents show Trump was able to obtains his loans because unnamed Russian oligarchs cosigned for him. “I have not seen any documentation from Deutsche Bank that supports this and verifies this,” O’Donnell clarified. “This is just a single source who has revealed that to me and that’s where that stands at this point. It’s going to need a lot more verification before that can be a confirmable fact.”
Following a statement earlier in the day that he made “an error in judgement,” on Wednesday night O’Donnell formally retracted the story.
“I should not have said it on-air or posted it on Twitter. I was wrong to do so,” O’Donnell said. “This afternoon, attorneys for the president sent us a letter asserting the story is false. They also demanded a retraction. Tonight, we are retracting the story.”
A representative for NBCUniversal did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.