Spokesman’s denial of New York Times report that included claim Trump watches television ‘in a bathrobe’ subjected to comprehensive take down

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Photographs of Donald Trump wearing a bathrobe have been shared on social media in response to his press secretary’s assertion he “definitely doesn’t wear one”.

An article published in the New York Times on Sunday painted an unsettling picture of life in the White House, with aides unable to locate light switches being forced to meet in the dark, visitors being left to find their own way out of the building after meetings and a “darkened, mostly empty West Wing”.

The president, it was reported, spent considerable time “watching television in his bathrobe” and marking up negative news reports with a black Sharpie.

The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said the story was “so riddled with inaccuracies and lies” that the New York Times owed Trump an apology.

Trump, too, tweeted that the report by the “failing” newspaper was “total fiction”.

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) The failing @nytimes writes total fiction concerning me. They have gotten it wrong for two years, and now are making up stories & sources!

Spicer took particular issue with the bathrobe report, which he said was “literally the epitome of fake news”.

“I don’t think the president owns a bathrobe,” he said. “He definitely doesn’t wear one.”

Some on social media wondered about the basis for Spicer’s assertion.

Fiddler (@cFidd) I pray I go the rest of my life not knowing how Sean Spicer became aware of Trump not owning a bathrobe

The press secretary’s priorities were also called into question, given that the Times had also reported that Trump was not fully briefed on the specifics of an executive order he signed granting his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, a seat on the National Security Council.

Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) Seems to me the part of the story to refute is the part where the President doesn't know what he's signing. https://t.co/l2F1MTtRuK

But Spicer’s statement that the president “definitely” did not wear a bathrobe was called into question when old photographs of Trump rugged up in towelling and terry cloth were circulated on social media.

Casey Clemmons (@Casey_Clemmons) Sean Spicer: "I don't think the president owns a bathrobe."



Anyone with internet access: pic.twitter.com/SNZBoG0Zcn

Robin (@IB5150WI) This is not a montage of Donald Trump in a bathrobe.#spicerfacts #alternativefacts #TheResistance pic.twitter.com/zL7WmUJSTR

John Aravosis (@aravosis) Donald Trump would never wear a bathrobe. pic.twitter.com/uGo1unhwE6

That a hotel magnate would not have a bathrobe struck some as unlikely.

John Levenstein (@johnlevenstein) .@seanspicer Trump has hotels. Each room has a bathrobe. There's probably a warehouse full of bathrobes. He definitely has a bathrobe.

Paul Bradley Carr (@paulbradleycarr) "Uh, yeah, I don't think hotel owner Mr Trump owns a bathrobe, or a tiny thing of shampoo, or a mini tube of Pringles, or a shower cap..."

In July last year, the television personality Mike Rowe auctioned off a robe from Trump Tower that had been autographed by the now-president.

Hunter Schwarz (@hunterschwarz) Speaking of Donald Trump and bathrobes, Mike Rowe once auctioned an autographed Trump bathrobe https://t.co/gxBktjoCYd pic.twitter.com/V7vB6mQ6xT

Many more expressed displeasure at seeing dated pictures of Trump donning a robe.

MsG 🐶 (@MsGordo) What in the hell? My feed is full of Trump bathrobe photos. pic.twitter.com/giltIo42fq