Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday explained that he had only called a lawyer "disgusting" in 2011 after "she wanted to breast pump in front of me."
During an interview on Wednesday, attorney Elizabeth Beck told CNN that she was representing clients who were trying to get their condominium deposits back from Trump after a failed real estate venture in 2011. She said that she had been taking a deposition from the GOP candidate when she asked for a break to pump breast milk.
"He got up, his face got red, he shook his finger at me and he screamed, 'You're disgusting, you're disgusting,' and he ran out of there," Beck said, calling the incident an "absolute meltdown."
Following Beck's interview on CNN, Trump swiftly responded by posting a series of messages to Twitter.
.@CNN & @CNNPolitics did not say that lawyer Beck lost the case and I got legal fees. Also, she wanted to breast pump in front of me at dep.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2015
.CNN & @CNNPolitics Lawyer Elizabeth Beck did a terrible job against me, she lost (I even got legal fees). I loved beating her,she was easy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2015
.CNN & @CNNPolitics Lawyer Elizabeth Beck did a terrible job against me, she lost (I even got legal fees). I loved beating her,she was easy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2015
So many people who know nothing about me are commenting all over T.V. and the media as though they have great D.J.T. insight. Know NOTHING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2015
The Trump Organization's executive vice president, Alan Garten, insisted to CNN that Beck was pumping breast milk as a stunt.
"She was disgusting," Garten told CNN in a phone interview. "She was attempting to breast feed -- to pump in the middle of a deposition, in a deposition room with five lawyers and was not excusing herself."
Garten said that Trump became alarmed when Beck assembled the pump and "started to move the breast pump toward her breast."
According to the Trump spokesperson, Beck had only orchestrated the breast pumping stunt after "she ran out of questions and she didn't know what to do."
"This is not about breastfeeding ... it's just not," he said.
Beck, however, remembered the encounter differently. She said that Trump had decided at the last minute that he did not want a pre-planned lunch break, which was when she had planned to use the breast pump.
"What kind of a leader of the United States would that be? Is he going to behave that way when he's negotiating treaties with China or Russia?" she asked.
