--- title: Donald Trump Demands Apology From New York Times description: "I think they should give me an apology before they go out of business" canonical: https://time.com/4128509/donald-trump-new-york-times-apology-disability/ author: Michael Scherer article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-28T19:28:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:53.218Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Demands New York Times Apologize for Saying He Mocked Reporter og:description: "I think they should give me an apology before they go out of business" og:url: https://time.com/4128509/donald-trump-new-york-times-apology-disability/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt896e2226a94e9345/698872f8f887dc16f5e9380b/trump1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump watches as a member of the audience is removed from his rally in Sarasota, Florida og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Demands New York Times Apologize for Saying He Mocked Reporter twitter:description: "I think they should give me an apology before they go out of business" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt896e2226a94e9345/698872f8f887dc16f5e9380b/trump1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Demands New York _Times_ Apologize for Saying He Mocked Reporter > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Michael Scherer](https://time.com/author/michael-scherer/) ## Michael Scherer Nov 28, 2015 7:28 PM UTC  U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump watches as a member of the audience is removed from his rally in Sarasota, FL Nov. 28, 2015. U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump watches as a member of the audience is removed from his rally in Sarasota, FL Nov. 28, 2015.Scott Audette—Reuters by [Michael Scherer](https://time.com/author/michael-scherer/) ## Michael Scherer Nov 28, 2015 7:28 PM UTC Donald Trump called Saturday for the New York _Times_ to apologize to him for suggesting that he mocked the physical disability of a reporter at the newspaper. “I would never mock a person that has a disability,” he said. “I don’t care if I liked the person or I didn’t.” At a rally in South Carolina on Nov. 24, Trump waved his hands crookedly by his chest when discussing a 2001 news article by Serge Kovaleski that mentioned reports of Muslims celebrating the terrorist attacks that toppled the World Trade Center. Officials in New Jersey have since said those reports were unfounded and unconfirmed. Kovaleski suffers from a congenital condition which limits mobility and muscle development in his joints. A representative for the New York _Times_ subsequently condemned Trump’s pantomime. “We’re outraged that he would ridicule the physical appearance of one of our reporters,” the statement said. “I think the New York _Times_ frankly should give me an apology,” Trump responded on Saturday, after criticizing the business sense of the newspaper’s corporate leadership. “I think they should give me an apology before they go out of business.” In an apparent effort to show his sensitivity to the disabled, he said he had researched the politically correct ways to talk about physical disabilities. “Never say a disabled person or the disabled. Say a person with disabilities. Never use the term handicap parking. Use the term accessible parking even though people have handicap permits,” Trump said. “We want to be politically correct.” Trump often denies political correctness at his rallies, saying it takes too long. Previously Trump tweeted that he did not know Kovaleski or “what he looks like.” On Saturday, he said he may have met Kovaleski in the 1980s, but does not remember. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4128509/donald-trump-new-york-times-apology-disability/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4128509/donald-trump-new-york-times-apology-disability/"},"headline":"Trump Demands New York Times Apologize for Saying He Mocked Reporter","datePublished":"2015-11-28T19:28:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:53.218Z","description":"\"I think they should give me an apology before they go out of business\"","url":"https://time.com/4128509/donald-trump-new-york-times-apology-disability/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","New York Times","Donald Trump","Republican","disabilities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt896e2226a94e9345/698872f8f887dc16f5e9380b/trump1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michael Scherer","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michael-scherer/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt896e2226a94e9345/698872f8f887dc16f5e9380b/trump1.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 watches as a member of the audience is removed from his rally in Sarasota, Florida","caption":"U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump watches as a member of the audience is removed from his rally in Sarasota, Florida","creditText":"Scott Audette—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":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4128509/donald-trump-new-york-times-apology-disability/","name":"Trump Demands New York Times Apologize for Saying He Mocked Reporter"}}]}] ```