President Donald Trump chastised his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney for coughing during the taping of a TV interview, ordering the aide out of the Oval Office while he was in the middle of an answer.
Trump, during an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that aired Sunday, was in the middle of telling the journalist about releasing a financial statement when Mulvaney sounded off a cough that can be heard during the President’s remark.
“Let’s do that over. He’s coughing in the middle of my answer,” Trump said, pointing toward Mulvaney.
“Yeah. OK,” Stephanopoulos said.
“I don’t like that, you know, I don’t like that,” Trump said, as Stephanopoulos notes that the cough is from “your chief of staff.”
“If you’re going to cough, please leave the room. You just can’t, you just can’t cough,” Trump said, shaking his head. “Boy, oh boy.”
The camera then swings around as the crew works to rearrange and restart the shot. A crew member tells the President that “we just changed the angle.”
Trump then briefly looks directly into the camera before finishing his answer.
“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.”
The President’s news-making interview with Stephanopoulos was closely followed as the network released segments of it over the last several days that included comments from Trump on everything from Richard Nixon and accepting political dirt from a foreign government to new proposed Air Force One designs.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.