President Trump wanted to boot his chief of staff Mick Mulvaney out of the Oval Office — for coughing during an interview, according to footage of the sit-down with ABC News that aired Sunday.
Trump was in the middle of answering a question from “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos about whether he would cough up his financial statement to the Senate, when he abruptly asked to do another take.
“No, at some point, I might [turn it over],” Trump said. “It’s a fantastic financial statement — And let’s do that over, he’s coughing in the middle of my answer.”
“I don’t like that, you know, I don’t like that,” Trump continued.
Stephanopoulos clarified: “Your chief of staff.”
“If you’re going to cough, please leave the room,” Trump responded. “You just can’t, you just can’t cough. Boy oh boy. Okay, do you want to do that a little differently …”
It’s unclear if Mulvaney left the room, but the president went back to his response, saying that “at some point” he’d like to have people see his financial statement.
He described the document as “phenomenal.”
When Stephanopoulos pointed out that it was up to Trump whether he wanted to release the statement, the president retorted: “No … It’s up to lawyers.”
During the same highly teased interview, Trump said he’d be willing to take information on his 2020 opponents from foreign governments and wouldn’t necessarily tell the FBI.
He also claimed President Barack Obama “must have known about” the FBI’s alleged efforts to ensure Trump wouldn’t win the presidency in 2016, and denied ordering White House counsel Don McGahn to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.