David Letterman 'flattered' his Donald Trump interview being used by Clinton campaign
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David Letterman said in an interview Friday that he’s glad a "Late Night" sit-down he did with Donald Trump in 2012 is being used in an ad by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
“I was flattered. I was pleased. I felt like I still have a small voice in this. I thought it was good,” Letterman told the New York Times, while also joking Clinton’s ad “made me a wealthy man.”
In the "Late Night" clip in question, Letterman confronted Trump for outsourcing to foreign countries some of the production for his line of menswear.
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The retired talk show host said Trump was a frequent and popular guest. “Nobody took him seriously, and people loved him when he would come on the show,” Letterman said. “I would make fun of his hair, I would call him a slumlord, I would make fun of his ties. And he could just take a punch like nothing. He was the perfect guest.”
But Letterman’s view of Trump has since shifted dramatically.
"I can remember him doing an impression, behind a podium, of a reporter for The New York Times who has a congenital disorder. And then I thought, if this was somebody else — if this was a member of your family or a next-door neighbor, a guy at work — you would immediately distance yourself from that person. And that’s what I thought would happen,” Letterman said. “Because if you can do that in a national forum, that says to me that you are a damaged human being. If you can do that, and not apologize, you’re a person to be shunned.”
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Trump’s spastic arm waving at a rally last November while mimicking reporter Serge Kovaleski drew swift condemnation from opponents who claimed Trump was making light of a disability. The Washington Post gave Trump four Pinocchio’s for his denials, and Hillary Clinton used a clip of the impression in a video slamming Trump.
But a pro-Trump, Catholic website compiled footage appearing to show Trump has a very limited repertoire of impressions -- which the site points to as "evidence" he wasn't mocking the reporter's disability.
Catholics 4 Trump posted four videos – one of which dates back to 2005 – in which Trump impersonates everyone from Sen. Ted Cruz to The Donald himself with the same, flailing mannerisms and goofy speech.