President Trump spoke about Hawaii’s false missile alert, his relationship with North Korea and his disputed in a Wall Street Journal article on Jan. 14 about his relationship with Kim Jong Un. (The Washington Post)
PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump claimed Sunday that the Wall Street Journal deliberately misquoted him as saying that he probably has a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The White House is disputing the newspaper’s report that Trump, in an interview last week with several Journal reporters, said he has a good relationship with the nuclear-armed leader he has previously mocked as “Little Rocket Man.”
“The Wall Street Journal, as you know, quoted totally wrong,” Trump told reporters here Sunday evening. “But we’re going to see what happens with North Korea. We have great talks going on. The Olympics, you know about. A lot of things can happen.”
In the interview, Trump claimed good relationships with other Asian leaders dealing with North Korea. The Journal quoted Trump as then saying, “I probably have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un.”
“Obviously I didn’t say that,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday morning. “I said ‘I’d have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un,’ a big difference,” he continued. “Fortunately we now record conversations with reporters…”
In a second tweet, Trump finished the thought: ” . . . and they knew exactly what I said and meant. They just wanted a story. FAKE NEWS!”
The president’s accusation echoed one from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Saturday evening. She posted the White House recording of the session.
In an article posted shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday, the Journal stood by its earlier report and said ground rules for the interview Thursday had included an agreement that recordings made by both reporters and the White House would be used only for…
