US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has denied calling Meghan Markle “nasty” in an interview, but said she was “nasty to me”.
When interviewed by The Sun last week, Trump was asked about Markle referring to him as misogynistic in 2016 – when he was running for the presidency.
Trump responded by saying: “I didn’t know that she was nasty.”
He was asked about his comments by Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain today as he continues a visit to Europe, including a state visit to the UK and meetings with the British royal family.
Markle last year married Prince Harry, who met Trump yesterday, and is now the Duchess of Sussex.
Speaking to Morgan today, Trump said: “[The Sun] said some of the things that she said and it’s actually on tape. And I said: ‘Well, I didn’t know she was nasty.’
“I wasn’t referring to she’s nasty. I said she was nasty about me. And essentially I didn’t know she was nasty about me.
She was nasty to me. And that’s okay for her to be nasty, it’s not good for me to be nasty to her and I wasn’t.
Trump added: “You know what? She’s doing a good job, I hope she enjoys her life … I think she’s very nice.”
Trump denied reports that Prince Harry didn’t wish to speak to him during a state banquet, saying the two men had a conversation.
“I congratulated him and I think he’s a terrific guy. The royal family is really nice.”
He said they did not discuss the ‘nasty’ comment, adding that Harry “couldn’t have been nicer”.
“We didn’t talk about it. I was going to because it was so falsely put out there. And when you see that transcript and you see, it’s the exact opposite of what they said.”
Climate change
Morgan asked Trump about his views on climate change – the Republican has repeatedly voiced his scepticism in relation to the topic despite the scientific evidence.
Trump also pulled the US out of the landmark Paris Agreement, a move our own president labelled as “regressive and pernicious” yesterday.
Prince Charles, a climate change advocate, spoke to Trump about the topic yesterday.
Trump said the conversation was supposed to last 15 minutes but ended up going on for an hour and a half.
[Prince Charles] did most of the talking and he is really into climate change and I think that’s great, I mean I want that, I like that. I totally listened to him, and he also talked about architecture … he very much loves architecture and important architecture.
Trump said Charles “wants to make sure that future generations have climate that is good climate as opposed to a disaster and I agree”.
“I believe that there is a change in weather and I think it changes both ways. I think it used to be called global warming, that wasn’t working, then it was called climate change, now it’s actually called extreme weather because with extreme weather you can’t miss.”
During the interview, Trump also walked back comments he made yesterday when he said the British National Health Service was “on the table” during trade negotiations between the US and UK. His somewhat ambitious comment was roundly criticised.
This morning he said: “I don’t see it being on the table”, adding that the NHS was “something that I would not consider part of trade”.
Trump is due to arrive in Ireland later today, for a brief visit and meeting with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, in between D-Day commemorations in Britain and France. A number of protests are planned.
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