British television personality Piers Morgan took the news cycle by storm with a preview of his interview with former Republican President Donald Trump that showed him storming out of the interview.
Trump has vociferously denied the incident, accusing Morgan of "deceptively editing" the chat and for once he's providing proof to back his claim.
Through his spokeswoman, Trump released audio from the taping in which Trump and his reps are heard repeatedly granting Morgan's extensions to the agreed upon time limit for the interview and then ending it casually and cordially.
In the statement Trump's camp sent along with the audio, Trump excoriated Morgan for what he called an interview that was "unlawfully and deceptively" edited.
“Piers Morgan, like the rest of the Fake News Media, attempted to unlawfully and deceptively edit his long and tedious interview with me."
"He wanted to make it look like I walked out on the interview when my time limit of 20 minutes went over by an hour."
The interview with Trump, being billed as "the most explosive interview of the year," is meant to be the splashy debut of Morgan's new show Piers Morgan Uncensored on Rupert Murdoch's Fox Nation and the forthcoming British television channel TalkTV.
In the promo, Morgan and Trump lock horns over 2020 election conspiracy theories until Trump becomes so agitated he abruptly ends the interview and storms out.
But the released audio, which Trump's team says they captured purposefully "as a means of keeping [Morgan] honest" revealed an entirely different ending to the interview—one in which both men shared a chuckle and then ended things cordially.
Conservative pundits and the Trump progeny amplified the message on the platform the former President is banned from.
In the audio, Morgan can be heard saying:
“That was a great interview... Thank you very much. I really appreciate it,”
The two can also be heard sharing a chuckle as Trump agrees with Morgan's summation of the chat.
Most relevant is the moment in Morgan's promo in which Trump abruptly stands up from his chair and walks off set, which the released audio reveals happened after the above-quoted exchange.
The audio also reveals Trump and his team repeatedly tried to end the interview sooner for being over time in a series of heated exchanges, but the interview continued after Morgan was able to engage Trump in a discussion of a recent hole-in-one he achieved while golfing.
Some of the soundbites heard in the moments of Morgan's edit where Trump appears to storm out, during which Trump's face is not visible, seem to have been pulled from these earlier disagreements over interview length.
Despite the evidence, Morgan appeared unfazed, taking to Twitter to clap back at the former President and pivot the conversation back to Trump's "Big Lie" claims of election fraud and failure to concede after his loss to President Joe Biden.
On social media, the news left many scratching their heads.
Piers Morgan Uncensored debuts Monday, as does its network TalkTV.
Morgan's interview will stream on the U.S.'s Fox Nation and Australia's Sky Australia.
