U.S. President Donald Trump denied calling Meghan Markle “nasty” in a Sunday morning tweet – even though the remark was caught on tape.
“I never called Meghan Markle ‘nasty,’” he wrote in the tweet. “Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold! Will @CNN, @nytimes and others apologize? Doubt it!”
The controversy began late last week. Days before his state visit to the United Kingdom, the president weighed in on the country’s political tumult in an interview with the British tabloid The Sun.
In the interview, which was recorded, he said Boris Johnson would be an “excellent” replacement for Prime Minister Theresa May, who said last month that she will step down as Conservative leader on June 7. He also called the U.S.-born Duchess of Sussex “nasty” when asked about comments she made in 2016 threatening to move to Canada if he was elected.
“I didn’t know that she was nasty,” he told The Sun.
Tape of Trump making the remark quickly went viral on social media after a campaign account for the president tweeted it, calling it “fake news.”
The comments threaten to overshadow Trump’s controversial three-day state visit, which begins in London on Monday and will include a banquet with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
