According to a newly obtained audio recording, former President Donald Trump allegedly grabbed an NBC reporter’s phone, demanding he is removed from the plane after he queried Trump about the investigation by Manhattan DA Alvin Brag during an informal press gaggle.
The exchange, first reported by Vanity Fair, took place on March 25 after Trump’s campaign rally in Waco, Texas.
Trump was addressing a group of reporters on his plane when Vaughn Hillyard, a reporter for NBC News reporter, suggested the former President appeared “frustrated” by the Bragg investigation.
The question seemingly irritated Trump, who told the reporter not to ask “any more questions.”
Trump replied that he wasn’t “frustrated by anything,” querying why he would be frustrated when he had just given a “two-hour speech” in Waco.
Instead, Trump insisted Bragg’s investigation was “fake” because he had done nothing wrong.
He then claimed the encounter was an example of “fake news,” insisting that “NBC is one of the worst at it.”
The former President then told Hillyard not to ask him “any more questions,” saying he heard Hillyard was a “nice guy from NBC,” but insisted that wasn’t the case.
About 30 minutes pass before Hillyard tries to ask Trump another question about Bragg’s investigation.
The former President then stated he didn’t “want to talk to [Hillyard]” as he wasn’t a “nice guy.”
According to reporting by Vanity Fair, as Hillyard attempts to finish his questions, Trump grabs the reporter’s two phones from the table between them and tosses them to the side. Trump is then heard telling an aide, “Get him out of here” repeatedly.
