November 4, 2018

Trump Accuses Oprah of Burning Tapes That Don’t Exist to Hide Interview That Never Happened

The lies came at a rally in Georgia.

Chris Kleponis/CNP

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Amid a fact-free tirade against Georgia’s gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, President Donald Trump on Sunday falsely accused Oprah Winfrey of attempting to “burn” tapes showing Trump appearing in the final days of the iconic Oprah Winfrey Show.

“I was on her full show on the last week,” Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Macon, Georgia. “I think they’re trying to burn the tape.”

Trump also claimed to have been friends with Winfrey, a prominent Abrams supporter who campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016, until the launch of his presidential campaign. “Oprah was a friend of mine until I ran for office. Once I ran for office she diverged.” 

Though he had been interviewed on her show, Trump was not included in its last week. Despite this, Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed otherwise to apparently boost his celebrity profile.

The new, baseless accusation of an effort to get rid of a non-existing recordings comes just days after Winfrey traveled to Georgia in support of Abrams’ bid to become the first female black governor in the country. 

Winfrey’s visit has since sparked a round of racist robocalls interpreting the billionaire media mogul. 

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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