Real estate mogul Donald Trump waits for no one, not even a new mother who needs to take a break to pump breast milk for her three-month-old child.
The New York Times reported late Tuesday on a testy exchange Trump had with opposing counsel – in a lawsuit over a failed Florida real estate venture – that exemplifies the billionaire’s short temper. Trump flew off the handle when lawyer Elizabeth Beck requested an hour-long medical break to pump breast milk, according to a 2011 deposition obtained by the Times.
“You’re disgusting,” Trump told Beck before walking out of the room and closing out the day’s testimony, as quoted by the newspaper.
Beck recounted what she referred to as Trump’s “meltdown” in greater detail in a subsequent interview with CNN.
“He got up. His face got red. He shook his finger at me and he shouted ‘You’re disgusting! You’re disgusting!'” Beck told CNN. “And he ran out of there. We were not able to conclude his deposition that day.”
Attorney called “disgusting” by #Trump for request to pump breast milk recounts her story. http://t.co/PItjX0GTQq http://t.co/vr5uk1C1ou
— New Day (@NewDay) July 29, 2015
One of Trump’s attorneys, Alan Garten, told The New York Times that his client’s outburst was not a statement about breast-feeding but a reaction to “the fact that [Beck] was appearing to do it in the middle of a deposition.” However, none of the people involved in the incident suggested that Beck did anything beyond displaying the pump, according to the newspaper.
Still, Trump criticized Beck Tuesday morning on Twitter and insisted that she tried to pump in front of him:
.@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
