Watch Trump kick Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney out of his ABC News interview for coughing

Trump stops interview because chief of staff is coughing

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twiter/ABC News)

There were several eyebrow-raising and factually incorrect parts of President Trump's long interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, including his assertions that he has been treated worse than Abraham Lincoln, that he'll have his long-promised health-care plan out in anywhere from "a month" to "fairly soon" or "much before the election," and that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was "conflicted" because of a dispute over golf dues.

But when Trump was trying to convince Stephanopoulos that even though Congress wants his "fantastic financial statement" and he wants them to see it, "it's not up to me, it's up to lawyers, it's up to everything else," acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney started coughing. Trump stopped the interview. "Let's do that over, he's coughing in the middle of my answer," he said. "I don't like that, you know, I don't like that. ... If you're going to cough, please leave the room. You just can't, you just can't cough. Boy, oh boy."

Trump isn't wrong about coughing in the middle of your boss' on-camera interview, but the idea that Trump believes he can do just about anything — including firing the prosecutor investigating him — but not release his own tax returns or financial statements, that's pretty hard to swallow.

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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.