Jonathan Kearsley: US correspondent on Donald Trump responding to death rumours

Donald Trump says reports of his death have been greatly exaggerated.

The US President addressed media in the White House after his recent absence from the spotlight over the weekend sent social media into a tailspin.

Health rumours have been ramping up since his diagnosis of a chronic vein condition, with photos of his bruised hand circling online.

US correspondent Jonathan Kearsley says Trump claimed he was active over the weekend - and he wasn't aware of the death rumours.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
International Correspondence with endsit Eye Insurance, Peace of Mind for
New Zealand Business. Jonathan Kresley, Channel nine US correspondents with
US Hello, Jonathan.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Heather, Hello to you and all our wonderful friends are
on the other side of the world. Right, So what
does Trump think of that big parade? Then, well, he
took the truth social even essentially before it started, saying
that he believed that Chijing Ping, Vladimir Putin, and Kim
johng Wan were conspiring against America. He wished them a
glorious day to celebrate what China sees at their is

(00:34):
the eightieth anniversary at the end of its involvement in
the Second World War, defeating Japan, and essentially hit out
at the three dictators in chief if you like, and
the images are going around the world, Vladimir Putin, Chijing Ping,
and Kim Jong Wan essentially standing inside Tiannaman Square, the
Great Hall of the People, looking out over the parade

(00:55):
of Chinese military. You spoke about some of the armor
were there. It was an extraordinary display of military might.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Undersea vehicles, high tech aircraft, unmanned drones, unmanned planes, unmanned
almost everything you can imagine, and then the loyalty of
the Chinese army on.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Absolute full display. It was a message that the President
of the United States would have been watching very very closely.
No doubt we'll hear a little bit more from him
on his full reaction to it tomorrow, but at least
his initial reaction was to say, you three, you're conspiring
against me.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
He thinks it's funny people thought he was dead.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Ah. Yeah. He seemed to sort of pretend as though
he had absolutely no idea what the online speculation was,
and places like x and Facebook were filled with speculation
over the weekend. He wasn't well that perhaps he may
have even passed away, and he was asked this question today.
The exact wording of the question was how did you
find out you were dead? And he kind of responded

(01:50):
by sort of suggesting, oh, I never really heard about that,
and that said, yeah, I did hear about it, but look,
you know, I'm perfectly fine. He says he was very
active over the weekend, says he went to his club,
that he was very active on truth social which of
course he was, but largely it was fueled by a
public absence, if you like, and the longest public absence
for him of this term in front of a television camera.

(02:12):
It was a week ago. He fronted cameras for three hours,
seven eight minutes or so at a cabinet meeting and
then seemingly disappeared. And the online twitter aati or exirati
or facebook arati, whatever you want to call them these
days seemed to do what the internet does, and that
is fuel the speculation, and he sort of really hosed
that down today. Now, we were joking with you about

(02:33):
how much you love Taita and Travis, Oh yeah, but
oh the world loves her, doesn't I?

Speaker 1 (02:37):
It will? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (02:38):
But am I right? And did you meet him? Ah? Yeah,
we might have had a little large association, if you like,
with Travis Kelce. A couple of days ago, I was
in Kansas City, Missouri, to cover an Australian football playing
college football and were standing inside Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium,
the home of the Kansas City Chiefs, and sure enough
in walked Travis kelseium off alongside his brother Jason, asked

(03:01):
him a question how he was doing, wished him congratulations,
tried to talk to him about whether he might consider
Australia or even perhaps New Zealand as their destination for
the wedding. But yeah, it was a very very brief
conversation between Travis and I. He swiftly moved on. I
was almost pumped into his brother Jason, and then up
Travis proceeded to the corporate suite to sit alongside his

(03:23):
new fiancee Taylor Swift, who was there. Were all smiles
for most of the game, or at least part of
the game anyway, and I have no doubt that they'll
be back at Arrowhead Stadium in a couple of weeks time,
when Travis takes to the field himself, this time for
the Kansas City Chiefs against the Philadelphia Eagles. Jonathan, everything
you've ever lived for, Thank you. It's like we were there.
I really appreciate that. Jonathan Keresley, Channel nine US correspondent.

(03:46):
Do you just feel like you were in that room
with them, almost bumping into Jason. For more from Hither
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