- Stephanopoulos was asking about attempts by House Democrats to obtain Trump's tax records which the president has long withheld from public release.
- Trump cut short his answer to tell Mick Mulvaney, his chief of staff: "If you're going to cough, please leave the room."
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Trump kicked his chief of staff out of the Oval Office for coughing during a TV interview
In an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos that aired Sunday, President Donald Trump ordered his chief of staff to leave the Oval Office for coughing while Trump was talking.
Trump cough Oval Office interview Mulvaney ABC
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President Donald Trump ordered his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, out of the Oval Office because he started coughing during a TV interview.
Trump asked Mulvaney to get out after his coughing interrupted an answer Trump was trying to give on his tax returns.
The moment, seen in the video below, was during an interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, which was broadcast in full on Sunday night.
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Stephanopoulos was asking Trump about attempts by House Democrats to subpoena his tax statements. Trump has withheld the returns from public release, breaking with decades of tradition.
Of releasing the returns, Trump said: "...at some point, I might, but at some point I hope they get it because it's a financ--, it's a fantastic financial statement. 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." said Trump.
Trump
ABC News
"If you're going to cough, please leave the room. You just can't, you just can't cough. Boy oh boy. Okay, do you want to do that a little differently than uhh--" he said.
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Mulvaney's interruption came during questioning over a fraught topic for the president.
The Democrat controlled House Ways and Means committees is currently locked in battle with the Treasury department for the president's personal and business tax records. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has refused to comply with a request for six years of the president's tax records.
Democrats are seeking answers over whether the president's tax records expose conflicts of interest he has not disclosed.
Trump has previously claimed that he is unable to release his tax records because they are under audit from the Internal Revenue Service. But the service has said that those under audit are still free to release tax records.
Trump told Stephanopoulos that he would release the records at an undisclosed date.
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He said: "So at some point--so at some point, I look forward to, frankly, I'd like to have people see my financial statement because it's phenomenal."
But he claimed that the decision to release them was not his alone, and attacked Democrats seeking to obtain them.
"No, it's not up to me. It's up to lawyers, it's up to everything else. But they're asking for things that they should never be asking for, that they've never asked another president for. They want to go through every deal that they've ever done, they've--what they're doing is a disgrace," he said.
See Also:
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- Trump says he will announce 'phenomenal' new healthcare plan within the next two months
- Sajid Javid says it was 'odd' that he was blocked from attending Trump banquet and 'I don't like it'
- Republican Rep. Justin Amash steps down from the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus after calling for Trump's impeachment
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