Former President Donald Trump is pushing back against a report that he warned he would start his own political party.
In a statement on Monday, “It’s a totally made up and fabricated story, it’s Fake News. Jonathan Karl is a third-rate reporter working for ABC Non-News.”
“ABC Non-News and 3rd rate reporter Jonathan Karl have been writing Fake News about me from the beginning of my political career. Just look at what has now been revealed about the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax,” he continued.
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— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) November 8, 2021
“ABC Non-News and 3rd rate reporter Jonathan Karl have been writing Fake News about me from the beginning of my political career. Just look at what has now been revealed about the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. It was a made up and totally fabricated scam and…
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl writes in his forthcoming book “Betrayal” that Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called Trump on Jan. 20 to “wish him farewell.”
“It was a very un-pleasant conversation,” Karl reported. “Donald Trump was in no mood for small talk or nostalgic goodbyes. He got right to the point. He told her he was leaving the Republican Party and would be creating his own political party.”
McDaniel reportedly warned the former president that Republicans “will lose forever” if he did.
“Exactly. You lose forever without me. I don’t care,” Trump said.
Karl went on to say that Trump allegedly believed “that if he had lost, he wanted everybody around him to lose as well.” Additionally, he “wasn’t simply floating an idea.”
“He was putting the party chairwoman on notice that he had decided to start his own party. It was a done deal. He had made up his mind. ‘He was very adamant that he was going to do it,’ a source who heard the president’s comments later told me,” Karl said.
The Wall Street Journal reported in January that the former president had discussed starting a “Patriot Party.”
However, in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, Trump said, “That was fake news. Fake News.”
“We have the Republican Party. It’s going to unite and be stronger than ever before. I am not starting a new party,” he added.
Finally, he said, “Wouldn’t that be brilliant? Let’s start a new party, and let’s divide our vote, so that you can never win. No, we’re not interested in that.”