Did Trump say 'f**k Mandela'? Here's what a new book claims

07 September 2020 - 09:15 By Unathi Nkanjeni
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
A tell-all book due to be published on Tuesday alleges that US president Donald Trump said he did not think Nelson Mandela “was a real leader, not the kind he respected". File Photo.
A tell-all book due to be published on Tuesday alleges that US president Donald Trump said he did not think Nelson Mandela “was a real leader, not the kind he respected". File Photo.
Image: REUTERS/Leah Millis

US president Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has released a new book in which he alleges that Trump ridiculed black world leaders, including SA's late former president Nelson Mandela.

The Washington Post reported over the weekend that in Disloyal: A Memoir, Cohen alleged that Trump described Mandela as a poor leader

In the tell-all book, Cohen alleged that after Mandela's death in 2013, Trump said he did not think Mandela “was a real leader, not the kind he respected”.

Cohen alleged that Trump praised SA's apartheid-era rule, saying: “Mandela f***ed the whole country up. Now it’s a s**thole. F*** Mandela. He was no leader.”

Trump also allegedly said all countries run by black presidents are “s**tholes”. 

“Tell me one country run by a black person that isn’t a s***hole. They are all complete f***ing toilets,” he is claimed to have said.

Cohen's book is scheduled to be released on Tuesday by Skyhorse Publishing.

Responding to the claims, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany attacked Cohen's credibility.

“Michael Cohen is a disgraced felon and disbarred lawyer who lied to Congress. He has lost all credibility, and it's unsurprising to see his latest attempt to profit off lies,” McEnany said.

In 2013, the US president said SA was a “crime-ridden mess ready to explode”. In 2015, Trump he commented that SA was “very dangerous”.

In 2017, Trump allegedly called Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations “s***hole countries”.  

In 2018, Trump tweeted that the SA government was “seizing land from white farmers”. He asked his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to study “the land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large-scale killing of farmers”. 


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now