Trump Says Barbara's Off "The List"
The feud between Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump seems to have left a permanent rift between the real estate mogul and O'Donnell's co-host, Barbara Walters.
"Barbara did not speak the truth and I didn't like it," Trump told David Letterman in an interview taped earlier in the week to air on Friday. "She was trying to protect Rosie. She just said things that weren't so and therefore I sort of wrote her off my list. She's off the list."
O'Donnell took aim at Trump back in December on "The View" after he held a press conference and announced that despite allegations of underage drinking and drug use, Miss USA, Tara Conner would enter rehab and retain her crown. Walters stood by her "View" co-host.
Letterman asked Trump if there were still hard feelings there.
Photos: Famous Feuds
"Barbara was a friend of mine for a long period of time. This all started when I gave Tara Conner, Miss USA, a second chance. She had a drug problem, she had an alcohol problem, but I gave her a second chance," Trump said. "Rosie, as you know, went crazy at the prospect of my giving her a second chance."
Trump said that O'Donnell and her big opinions are taking over the ABC talk show.
"Rosie is sort of taking over the show from Barbara," he said. "It was sad to watch what was happening. But Rosie, they say, almost beat her up in the green room, and Barbara went out and did things she shouldn't do. I felt badly for Barbara. In a way, I feel that Barbara was just trying to keep the whole thing together. I don't totally blame her."
Trump said he thought he did a good thing by giving beauty queen Tara Conner a second chance. "I know that Rosie would have given her a second chance, and a third chance and a fifth chance," Trump told Letterman. "She certainly tried to assault my character. I watched what she did with Kelly Ripa and other people over the last few months and I thought somebody ought to (fight) back."
Trump admitted that he may have gone too far with the name calling. "But, I called her names that I certainly shouldn't have called her," he told Letterman.
"Sure, but it's fun," Letterman joked in response.
"It has been fun, actually," Trump said.
Letterman said he doesn't have the stomach for such feuds, to which Trump took another jab at O'Donnell. "It doesn't take much of a stomach. She's got the stomach for it," Trump said, which prompted groans from the audience.