Trump said the media instead painted him unfairly and was evidence that the media is biased against him. | AP Photo Trump says he was only joking about that baby

Donald Trump said his joke about ejecting a baby from one of his rallies this week was misinterpreted and blamed the “dishonest” news media for turning a lighthearted moment into a negative story.

The Manhattan billionaire recounted the story at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Friday afternoon as evidence that the media is biased against him.


“At one of the events, a beautiful baby was crying. And I mean crying like you wouldn’t believe. This baby could have been Pavarotti. In fact, I’m going to find out who that baby is. I’m going to make a deal with the parents because we can take that baby to training school and it’ll be the next great Pavarotti,” Trump told the crowd in Iowa. “This was a beautiful baby and a beautiful mother. And the baby was crying and I jokingly said ‘You know what, that’s OK, let the baby cry, we love babies.’”

On Tuesday, soon after telling the mother that she and the baby could stay, Trump reversed course and instead announced to the crowd, “Actually, I was only kidding, you can get the baby out of here.” The Republican nominee explained Friday that the baby was disturbing the rally, held Tuesday in a Northern Virginia high school auditorium, where he was speaking to “thousands of people.”

According to Trump, the moment was lighthearted and prompted laughter in the room. The media, he said, instead painted him unfairly.

“I actually said the first time, ‘All right, keep the baby here, don’t worry about it,’” Trump said. “Then, after about two minutes, I said, ‘You know what, I’m going to counteract my order. Beautiful baby, eh, if you take her outside, that’s not so bad.’ That was it.

“The whole place laughed. We had a good time,” he continued. “The press came out with headlines: ‘Trump throws baby out of arena.’ So dishonest. I mean these are dishonest people. I could give you 20 stories like that,” he said. “Everyone’s having fun, we’re smiling, I’m waving. Everyone’s having fun, but they say Trump throws baby. You know how terrible that is? It’s such a lie. And they know it’s a lie.”

“I’ve heard so much about that beautiful baby, beautiful parents, so much,” he continued. “I don’t throw babies out, believe me. I love babies. I love my children, I love babies. I don’t throw babies out, believe me.”