--- description: At a rally, the Republican frontrunner appeared to mock the disability of a New York Times reporter title: Donald Trump Under Fire for Mocking Reporter's Disability image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf120d00e044154a/698872df3c163928cc45aebf/donald-trump8.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Donald Trump Under Fire for Mocking Reporter's Disability by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 26, 2015 1:51 PM CUT  Donald Trump speaks to supporters at an event at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, S. C., on Nov. 24, 2015. Donald Trump speaks to supporters at an event at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, S. C., on Nov. 24, 2015.Randall Hill—Reuters by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 26, 2015 1:51 PM CUT Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump [came under fire ](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34930042 "undefined")for mocking New York _Times_ reporter Serge Kovaleski, who suffers from a congenital joint condition, at a campaign rally in South Carolina this week. Kovaleski was one of the authors of a [_Washington Post_ report ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/09/18/northern-new-jersey-draws-probers-eyes/40f82ea4-e015-4d6e-a87e-93aa433fafdc/ "undefined")from 2001 that Trump had used to support his controversial claim that “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey cheered as the World Trade Center collapsed in 2001\. Law enforcement and government officials who were in New Jersey at that time have discredited Trump’s assertion and the _Post_ has added a [disclaimer](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/09/18/northern-new-jersey-draws-probers-eyes/40f82ea4-e015-4d6e-a87e-93aa433fafdc/ "undefined") to the article. Kovaleski told CNN earlier this week that he did “not recall anyone saying there were thousands, or even hundreds, of people celebrating. That was not the case, as best as I can remember.” At a South Carolina rally on Tuesday, Trump waved his arms around with his hands at an odd angle in an apparent impression of Kovaleski, whose condition affects his arms. “Now the poor guy, you gotta see this guy,” he said. “Uhh I don’t know what I said. Uhh I don’t remember. He’s going like ‘I don’t remember. Maybe that’s what I said.'” “The sad part about it is, it didn’t in the slightest bit jar or surprise me that Donald Trump would do something this low-rent, given his track record,” Kovaleski told the [_Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/11/25/trump-blasted-by-new-york-times-after-mocking-reporter-with-disability/ "undefined")_._ The _Times_ also blasted Trump’s comments in a statement: “We think it’s outrageous that he would ridicule the appearance of one of our reporters,” a spokesman said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4127857/donald-trump-disability/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4127857/donald-trump-disability/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Under Fire for Mocking Reporter's Disability","datePublished":"2015-11-26T13:51:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:55:23.833Z","description":"At a rally, the Republican frontrunner appeared to mock the disability of a New York Times reporter","url":"https://time.com/4127857/donald-trump-disability/","keywords":["2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf120d00e044154a/698872df3c163928cc45aebf/donald-trump8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf120d00e044154a/698872df3c163928cc45aebf/donald-trump8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters at an event at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach","caption":"U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters at an event at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach","creditText":"Randall Hill—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4127857/donald-trump-disability/","name":"Donald Trump Under Fire for Mocking Reporter's Disability"}}]}] ```