Covering a presidential campaign is full of challenges—but being kissed by a candidate is not usually one of them.
In Unbelievable, the journalist’s memoir about the 2016 election, released on Tuesday, she recounts a 2015 episode in which the then-Republican nominee kissed her on the cheek after she appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss the election.
“Before I know what’s happening, his hands are on my shoulders and his lips are on my cheek. My eyes widen. My body freezes. My heart stops,” she wrote.
She also spoke about the incident in an NPR interview:
“I was powerless. I just stood there frozen thinking, Oh my god, what is this man doing? He’s not my friend. He’s not my business partner. He’s not my social acquaintance. He’s not a family member of mine. This is somebody I am covering. This is a presidential candidate, I am the reporter assigned on this beat—it just crosses a huge line. It’s so unprofessional and so inappropriate given the circumstances.”
According to Tur’s book, Trump immediately mentioned the incident on-air, telling Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, “I just saw [Tur] back there. I gave her a big kiss. She was fantastic.”
While President Trump did not directly respond to Tur’s account, he tweeted early Tuesday morning: “Fascinating to watch people writing books and major articles about me and yet they know nothing about me & have zero access. #FAKE NEWS!”
Fascinating to watch people writing books and major articles about me and yet they know nothing about me & have zero access. #FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 12, 2017
The tweet may also be referring to Hillary Clinton, whose election memoir What Happened was also released Tuesday.
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This isn’t the first time an account of Trump of kissing a woman uninvited has surfaced. An audio recording of him speaking to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush in 2005 includes his claims that when it comes to beautiful women, he “doesn’t even wait.”
“I’ve gotta use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her,” he said on the tape. “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”
Coins2Day has reached out to the White House for comment on Tur’s claims and will update this we receive a response.
