President Trump Says Arnold Schwarzenegger Was Fired From Celebrity Apprentice For ‘Pathetic Ratings’

Hours after Donald Trump accused Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower, the President shifted his crosshairs toward Arnold Schwarzenegger, claiming the actor and former governor was fired from The New Celebrity Apprentice rather than voluntarily leaving.

“Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me. Sad end to great show,” the president tweeted on Saturday morning.

Schwarzenegger responded on Twitter Saturday saying that Trump could use “a fact checker.”

On Friday, Schwarzenegger announced he was leaving the show due to its association with Trump. “I loved every second of working with NBC and Mark Burnett. Everyone — form the celebrities to the crew to the marketing department — was a straight 10, and I would absolutely work with all of them again on a show that doesn’t have this baggage,” he wrote in a statement.

“With Trump being involved in the show people have a bad taste and don’t want to participate as a spectator or as a sponsor or in any other way support the show,” Schwarzenegger added. “It’s a very divisive period now and I think this show got caught up in all that division.”

Trump starred in the reality show up until he launched his campaign for the presidency in 2015. He continued to stay on the series as an executive producer and made his distaste for Schwarzenegger clear.

“Wow the ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got ‘swamped’ (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT,” Trump tweeted in January, two weeks before his inauguration.

NBC has not commented on whether The New Celebrity Apprentice will be cancelled or seek a new host.