November 4, 2018

Trump Accuses Oprah of Burning Tapes That Don’t Exist to Hide Interview That Never Happened

The lies came at a rally in Georgia.

Chris Kleponis/CNP

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Amid a fact-free tirade against Georgia’s gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, President Donald Trump on Sunday falsely accused Oprah Winfrey of attempting to “burn” tapes showing Trump appearing in the final days of the iconic Oprah Winfrey Show.

“I was on her full show on the last week,” Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Macon, Georgia. “I think they’re trying to burn the tape.”

Trump also claimed to have been friends with Winfrey, a prominent Abrams supporter who campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016, until the launch of his presidential campaign. “Oprah was a friend of mine until I ran for office. Once I ran for office she diverged.” 

Though he had been interviewed on her show, Trump was not included in its last week. Despite this, Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed otherwise to apparently boost his celebrity profile.

The new, baseless accusation of an effort to get rid of a non-existing recordings comes just days after Winfrey traveled to Georgia in support of Abrams’ bid to become the first female black governor in the country. 

Winfrey’s visit has since sparked a round of racist robocalls interpreting the billionaire media mogul. 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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