Leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump issued two statements on Thursday regarding accusations by the media that he deliberately mocked the physical disability of a New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski when he spoke about the reporter at a rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on Tuesday night.
Trump did a physical impression invoking a stressed out person caught in a bad situation to talk about Kovaleski seemingly backtracking on his September 18, 2001 Washington Post report that Muslim’s in Jersey City, New Jersey were seen celebrating the al Qaeda terror attacks on New York City on September 11,2001.
Kovaleski is afflicted with arthrogryposis, a condition that affects the movement of joints and muscles. The media dropped all pretense of objectivity and flat out stated that Trump made fun of the disabled when he spoke about Kovaleski
Trump has caught a lot of criticism for his claims to have seen “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating that day. The news media has united in attacking Trump over his claim, however many citizens have chimed in to state they witnessed first hand or saw it on the news at the time.
Trump posted his statements to his Twitter page:
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2015
The media firestorm started with a report by Politico initially published Wednesday evening.