Former President and GOP front-runner Donald Trump allegedly grabbed an NBC reporter’s phones and demanded his removal from his plane after he was told not to ask any more questions about Alvin Bragg and the criminal probe, but was unable to control himself and follow the former President’s request.
After a campaign rally in Waco, Texas, Trump hosted reporters on his plane for an informal sit-down when NBC News reporter Vaughn Hillyard suggested that Trump seemed “frustrated” by Bragg’s investigation. The question didn’t sit well with the former President, who unloaded on the NBC reporter. According to Fox News, via the Washington Post, Trump replied: “I’m not frustrated by anything. What am I, frustrated? I just did a speech for two hours. I’m not frustrated by it. It’s a fake investigation. We did nothing wrong. I told you that. … It’s the exact opposite. This is fake news, and NBC is one of the worst at it. Don’t ask me any more questions.”
“I heard you’re a nice guy from NBC, but you’re not,”
After about a half-hour of awkwardness, Hillyard apparently decided to throw caution to the wind, and himself off the plane. As if he had never seen or listened to President Trump, he pressed the Alvin Bragg story. It did not go well for him. Trump fired back: “I don’t want to talk to you. You’re not a nice guy”
“Get him out of here.” https://t.co/dmLq9J9PW1
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) May 3, 2023
As Hillyard continued to seal his fate, a fed-up Trump reportedly snagged the reporter’s two phones from the table in front of him and pitched them to the side. According to recordings, Trump said: “Get him out of here. Let’s go, get him out of here. Out of here. Out of here,”
It is unclear exactly what they did with the NBC reporter or where they took him too, but it wouldn’t be shocking or unjustified if they handed him a parachute and said, ‘Good luck.’ It is as if Hillyard had no inkling that President Trump is not one to be trifled with, especially when he doesn’t hold your outlet in the highest regard to begin with.
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Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told the outlet that “no negative incidents” involving reporters ever occurred on his plane. Of course, shutting down an out-of-pocket reporter from an outlet with dubious credibility isn’t necessarily a negative incident.
It is more surprising that an NBC reporter was even allowed on the plane. The network has already been shunned by GOP challenger Ron DeSantis, and if Trump decides to shut them down as well, they will be left talking to Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley on the Republican side.
The alleged incident occurred a few days before Alvin Bragg indicted and arraigned President Trump for the Stormy Daniels “hush money” allegations. Needless to say, it will probably be a while before any NBC reporters are allowed to be back on the former president’s private plane. Maybe this incident will set NBC back on the path to being a more balanced and fair outlet.