The president accused ABC News correspondent Terry Moran of “not being very nice” during a heated exchange about whether a wrongfully deported Maryland father tattooed “MS-13” on his knuckles
- Donald Trump’s interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran turned tense when the president insisted that an edited image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s tattoos was the real thing.
- During an interview about his first 100 days in office, the president was questioned about Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador last month.
- Trump accused Moran of “not being very nice” when the correspondent attempted to set the record straight on the altered photo.
Donald Trump’s interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran went off the rails on Tuesday, April 29, after the president insisted that an edited image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was the real thing.
When asked about Abrego Garcia — who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March — Trump referenced a photo of the Maryland father’s tattoos. Abrego Garcia’s left hand features four tattoos on his knuckles: a marijuana leaf, a smiley face, a cross and a skull.
In a photo that Trump previously shared to his own social media pages, graphics were added to explain that the symbols were perceived by the White House as code for “MS-13,” the violent international gang.
The Trump administration has previously claimed that Abrego Garcia was a member of the gang, though he had no criminal record.
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During the interview with Moran, Trump suggested that the characters “M,” “S,” “1,” and “3” were part of Abrego Garcia’s real tattoo, and not typed onto the image after the fact to explain the alleged gang reference.
“He said he wasn’t a member of a gang, and then they looked and on his knuckles he had MS-13,” Trump told Moran, who replied there was “dispute” over the meaning of the symbols tattooed on Abrego Garcia.
“He had some tattoos that are interpreted that way, but let’s move on,” the anchor said. But the president was insistent.
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“Wait a minute. Hey, Terry. Terry. Terry. Don’t do that,” Trump replied.
“He did not have the letter ‘MS-13,’ ” Moran reiterated. “That was Photoshopped.”
“That was Photoshopped?” Trump replied in disbelief. “Terry, you can’t do that. They’ve given you the big break of a lifetime. You know, you’re doing the interview.”
“I picked you because, frankly, I had never heard of you, but that’s okay,” the president continued. “But I picked you, Terry, but you’re not being very nice. He had ‘MS-13’ tattooed. Terry. Terry. Do you want me to show you the picture?”
The photo of Trump holding up the edited image in the Oval Office is still live on the president’s Truth Social and Instagram pages.
“This is the man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, that the Courts are trying to save from being deported?” he wrote in the caption. “He was supposed to be, according to the Judge and the Democrats, a wonderful father from Maryland, but then they noticed he had ‘MS-13’ tattooed onto his knuckles (and lots of really bad stories about his past!). This is the gang that is, perhaps, the worst of them all. What is wrong with our Country?”
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Abrego Garcia was first stopped by immigration agents on March 12, and his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, previously told CBS Mornings that she only realized that he had been deported when she recognized him in a photo of detainees in the prison.
After being stopped by ICE, Abrego Garcia was detained in Texas. He was falsely told that “his immigration status had changed,” according to court documents filed on March 31.
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Although Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. without proper documentation as a teenager in 2011, multiple outlets have reported that Abrego Garcia was granted a protected status “based on concerns that he could be persecuted by gangs” if he were to return to El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia, who is father to a 5-year-old son, was living in Maryland and has had a work permit since 2019, per Reuters.
On April 10, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return and correct its error. However, the Trump administration and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele have refused to do so.
Moran, who served as ABC News’ chief White House correspondent from 1999 to 2005 and is currently the network’s senior national correspondent, replied to Trump that he had seen the photo of Abrego Garcia’s knuckles.
“He did have tattoos that can be interpreted that way,” the reporter said. “I’m not an expert on them.”
Trump, however, continued to insist. “No, no. He had ‘M-S,’ as clear as you can be. Not interpreted. This is why people no longer believe the news, because it’s fake news… You do such a disservice. Why don’t you just say, ‘Yes, he does,’ and you know, go on to something else?”
