'They spun it': Trump's ex-girlfriend accuses The New York Times of distorting her story in bombshell report
YouTube / Fox & Friends
A former companion of Donald Trump is claiming that The New York Times misrepresented her story about the time she spent dating the real-estate mogul turned Republican presidential frontrunner.
The Times said it interviewed more than 50 people for its story, which was published over the weekend and presented a picture of how Trump has been known to treat women; some of the sources depicted "unwelcome romantic advances" and "unending commentary on the female form," while others praised him for promoting women within his businesses.
The Times story began with an anecdote from one of the women, Rowanne Brewer Lane, about meeting Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. She's now saying the newspaper spun her story to appear more negative.
"The New York Times told us several times that they would make sure that my story that I was telling came across," she told "Fox & Friends" on Monday morning. "They promised several times that they would do it accurately."
"They told me several times, and my manager several times, that it would not be a hit piece," she added. "And that my story would come across the way that I was telling it and honestly. And it absolutely was not."
When asked what her reaction was when she read the article, Brewer Lane said it was "very upsetting."
"I was not happy to read it at all," she said.
Brewer Lane tweeted a statement from a representative of hers who accused The Times of misquoting her. She told "Fox & Friends," however, that The Times did use accurate quotes from her interview.
"They did take quotes from what I said, and they put a negative connotation on it," she said. "They spun it to where it appeared negative. I did not have a negative experience with Donald Trump. And I don't appreciate them making it look like that I was saying that it was a negative experience. Because it was not."
YouTube / Fox & Friends
Brewer Lane went on to defend Trump and his treatment of women.
"He never made me feel like I was being demeaned in any way," Brewer Lane said. "He never offended me in any way. He was very gracious. I saw him around all types of people, all types of women. He was very kind, thoughtful, generous. He was a gentleman."
When asked about the story she told The Times — that Trump asked her to change into a bathing suit soon after she met him at a Mar-a-Lago pool party — she said the newspaper's representation was "false."
She told "Fox & Friends" that she had been in a photo shoot all day and didn't bring a swimsuit to the party:
I started talking with Donald and chatting with him over the course of the first maybe 20 minutes I was there ... It just very normally and naturally evolved into a conversation. We started walking around the mansion. He started showing me the architecture, and we were having a very nice conversation, and we got into a certain part of it and he asked me if I had a swimsuit. And I said I didn't, I didn't know that ... I didn't really plan on swimming. And he asked me if I wanted one. So I said, 'Oh OK, sure.'
Brewer Lane said The Times spun the swimsuit incident into a negative story.
"The part where I went back out to the pool party and he made a comment, 'Now that's a stunning Trump girl right there,' I was actually flattered by," she said. "I didn't feel like it was a demeaning situation or comment at all. And that's what I told The Times. And they spun it completely differently."
She later said she supported Trump for president.
A Times representative sent this statement to Business Insider: "Ms. Brewer Lane was quoted fairly, accurately, and at length. The story provides context for the reader including that the swimsuit scene was the 'start of a whirlwind romance' between Ms. Brewer Lane and Mr. Trump."
Times reporters Michael Barbaro and Megan Twohey, who wrote the story, appeared on "CBS This Morning" to defend their report.
Barbaro said that after Brewer Lane told him the pool-party story, she said she was "taken aback" by Trump's conduct.
"People can evaluate the story kind of on its own merits," Barbaro said.
Trump has been blasting the Times story on Twitter all weekend, and he praised Brewer Lane's "Fox & Friends" comments on Monday morning:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/732163930236260352
That was an amazing interview on @foxandfriends - I hope the rest of the media picks it up to show how totally dishonest the @nytimes is!
Watch the full Brewer Lane interview on "Fox & Friends":
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