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- President Trump in a tweet Thursday attacked MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell, who earlier apologised for reporting that Trump’s Deutsche Bank loans had been guaranteed by Russian oligarchs.
- "Crazy Lawrence O’Donnell, who has been calling me wrong from even before I announced my run for the Presidency… was again forced to apologize," tweeted the president.
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President Donald Trump attacked MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell in a tweet early Thursday, after the host issued an on-air apology for claiming that Trump’s Deutsche Bank loans were guaranteed by Russian billionaires.
Trump tweeted: "Crazy Lawrence O’Donnell, who has been calling me wrong from even before I announced my run for the Presidency, even being previously forced by NBC to apologize, which he did while crying, for things he said about me & The Apprentice, was again forced to apologize, this time for the most ridiculous claim of all, that Russia, Russia, Russia, or Russian oligarchs, co-signed loan documents for me, a guarantee.
"Totally false, as is virtually everything else he, and much of the rest of the LameStream Media, has said about me for years. ALL APOLOGIZE!"
On his show Tuesday O’Donnell said that a single source close to Deutsche Bank had informed him that Trump’s loans from the bank had been guaranteed by Russian oligarchs close to the Kremlin.
And following a threatened defamation lawsuit from the president, O’Donnell issued an apology for reporting the claim the following day.
In the apology on Wednesday, O’Donnell tweeted: "Last night I made an error in judgment by reporting an item about the president’s finances that didn’t go through our rigorous verification and standards process. I shouldn’t have reported it and I was wrong to discuss it on the air. I will address the issue on my show tonight."
And on his show later Wednesday, he added: "Last night on this show I discussed information that wasn’t ready for reporting."
"I repeated statements a single source told me about the president’s finances and loan documents with Deutsche Bank. Saying ‘if true’ as I discussed the information was simply not good enough. I did not go through the rigorous verification and standards process here at MSNBC before repeating what I heard from my source."
Trump’s reference to an earlier apology by O’Donnell appears to refer to a 2015 incident in which O’Donnell said he regretted picking a fight with Trump over how much he made from his TV career at NBC.
O’Donnell admitted that he only ever made "semi-educated guesses" about the issue. Footage reviewed by Business Insider does not show him crying.
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Source: Business Insider – tporter@businessinsider.com (Tom Porter)