Trump's tale about Manhattan court workers crying and apologizing at his arraignment isn't true, source says

Fox News host Tucker Carlson sat down with former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida for an hourlong interview broadcast Tuesday night that was supposed to be about his arrest and arraignment in Manhattan the previous week but ended up focusing on whatever Trump wanted to talk about, with little pushback from Carlson. Trump did discuss his experience getting booked at his arraignment, but his version included a lot of sobbing court workers apologizing to him for his arrest.
The courthouse is "a tough, tough place, and they were crying," Trump said. "They were actually crying. They said, 'I'm sorry.' They said, '2024, sir. 2024.' And tears were pouring down their eyes."
You may be surprised to learn that none of that happened, at least according to a law enforcement source who spoke with Yahoo News' Michael Isikoff. Trump's story is "absolute BS," the official said. "There were zero people crying. There were zero people saying 'I'm sorry.'" In fact, Trump barely interacted with anybody at the courthouse other than his lawyers, Secret Service detail, and a handful of district attorney employees, the official said, and the only hiccup was when Trump's fingers had to be moistened with lotion because they were too dry to fingerprint.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Along with sitting through Trump's sobbing story about court workers, Carlson let the former president "prattle on at will" about "the various 'hoax' investigations to which he'd been subjected and his false assertions about the cease-fire in Afghanistan and the classified documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago by the FBI," Philip Bump writes at The Washington Post. Stephen Colbert's Late Show turned Trump's fawning description of Chinese President Xi Jinping into an '80s hit by Roxette.
But perhaps "the most telling part" of Carlson's "fundamentally obsequious" interview was when he said he thought viewers will find that what Trump "has to say moderate, sensible, and wise," Bump says. "This was sharply reminiscent of how Carlson described Ye, the musician formerly known as Kanye West, when he interviewed him in October," before showing an interview in which Carlson's team had "edited out much of Ye's most bizarre and disconcerting commentary" to make him sound like "a wise, sober opponent of the American elite." One "obvious question" about Carlson's Trump interview, he adds, is: what might he have left out "to present the former president as favorably as possible?"
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
5 inexcusably hilarious cartoons about Ghislaine Maxwell angling for a pardon
Cartoons Artists take on the circle of life, Ghislaine's Island, and more
-
Ozzy Osbourne obituary: heavy metal wildman and lovable reality TV dad
In the Spotlight For Osbourne, metal was 'not the music of hell but rather the music of Earth, not a fantasy but a survival guide'
-
Sudoku medium: August 2, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Trump revives K-12 Presidential Fitness Test
Speed Read The Obama administration phased the test out in 2012, replacing it with a program focused on overall health rather than standardized benchmarks
-
El Salvador scraps term limits, boosting Nayib Bukele
Speed Read New constitutional changes will allow presidents to seek reelection an indefinite number of times
-
Trump assigns tariffs, delays all except on Canada
Speed Read A 35% tariff on many Canadian goods has gone into effect
-
Harris rules out run for California governor
Speed Read The 2024 Democratic presidential nominee ended months of speculation about her plans for the contest
-
Trump sets new tariff rates as deadline nears
Speed Read New tariff rates for South Korea, Brazil and India announced
-
Ghislaine Maxwell: angling for a Trump pardon
Talking Point Convicted sex trafficker's testimony could shed new light on president's links to Jeffrey Epstein
-
Senate confirms Trump loyalist Bove to top court
Speed Read The president's former criminal defense lawyer was narrowly approved to earn a lifetime seat
-
Ghislaine Maxwell offers testimony for immunity
Speed Read The convicted sex trafficker offered to testify to Congress about her relationship with late boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein