Trump threatened prison for Time magazine journalist

Donald Trump threatened to a journalist at Time magazine with prison time for trying to take a photo of a letter North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un sent the president.

The threat was revealed Thursday when Time magazine released the full transcript of their interview. 

The president had the letter brought in during the interview to show TIME Editor-in-Chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal, Washington Bureau Chief Massimo Calabresi, Senior White House Correspondent Brian Bennett and White House Correspondent Tessa Berenson, who were conducting the interview. 

President Trump struck a Churchillian pose for a Time magazine cover profile

When one of the Time journalists tried to take a photo of the letter, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders put a stop to it.

‘You can’t take a picture of that, sorry,’ she said.

Trump later threatened the person.  

The exchange came when Time magazine was asking about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and the president changed the topic to the earlier incident.

‘Well, you can go to prison instead, because, if you use, if you use the photograph you took of the letter that I gave you,’ he said. 

‘Confidentially, I didn’t give it to you to take photographs of it — So don’t play that game with me,’ he added.     

‘I’m sorry, Mr. President. Were you threatening me with prison time?,’ the journalist with Time replied. 

Trump didn’t answer directly but criticized the magazine’s coverage of him.

‘Well, I told you the following. I told you you can look at this off-the-record. That doesn’t mean you take out your camera and start taking pictures of it. O.K.?,’ he said. 

‘So I hope you don’t have a picture of it.’ 

He added: ‘So go have fun with your story. Because I’m sure it will be the 28th horrible story I have in TIME Magazine because I never — I mean — ha. It’s incredible. With all I’ve done and the success I’ve had, the way that TIME Magazine writes is absolutely incredible.’

The president frequently lashes out at the media, particularly at stories about his administration that he doesn’t like. His favorite insult to the press is ‘fake news.’ 

Trump was angry a journalist tried to take a picture of a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

Trump’s Time cover micked Churchill – December 1941 Winston Churchill portrait by Yousuf Karsh

He snapped at the Time journalists about their stories. 

‘With all I’ve done, with the tremendous success I’ve had, that TIME Magazine writes about me the way they write is a disgrace, O.K.? Let’s face it, it’s a disgrace,’ he said. 

Trump tried his hand at a Churchillian pose, casting a confident gaze as he sat atop the Resolute desk for a Time magazine profile that came out Thursday where he promoted his base-driven political strategy.

The president is rejecting a strategy of trying to focus on reaching out to swing voters through calculated appeals that draw majority support.

Instead, he is doubling down on his plan to fire up his most loyal supporters with attacks on Democrats, the Russia probe, and would-be illegal immigrants. 

‘I think my base is so strong, I’m not sure that I have to do that,’ Trump told the magazine in an Oval Office interview.