Mr Trump has confessed previously to being a germaphobe and in one of his books described handshaking as “one of the curses of American society," which may perhaps explain his shock decision to expel a senior aide from the Oval Office for coughing halfway through a televised interview.

President Donald Trump kicked his acting Cheif of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, out of the Oval Office because he started coughing during a television interview, newly leaked footage has revealed.

Trump requested that Mulvaney leave the office after his coughing interrupted an interview Trump was giving on his tax returns with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

Mr Stephanopoulos was quizzing Mr Trump about the ongoing efforts by House Democrats to subpoena his tax statements, which the president has so far refused to release to the public.

— Matt Bevan 🎙 (@MatthewBevan) 17 June 2019

In the video, president Trump can be heard saying that, "...at some point, I might, but at some point, I hope they get it because it's a fantastic financial statement. It's a fantastic financial statement."

But then, Mr Mulvaney begins coughing, to which the president becomes visibly frustrated, and says to Stephanopoulos, “and let's do that over, he’s [Mulvaney] coughing in the middle of my answer.”

Mr Stephanopolous appears to initially agree with Mr Trump, but then the president continues to express his frustration, saying that, "I don't like that, you know, I don't like that."

Trump then goes further, ordering Mr Mulvaney out of the room: "if you're going to cough, please leave the room. You just can't, you just can't cough. Boy oh boy."

— SGC (@S_G_C) 17 June 2019

Moreover, the Washington Post’s Jackie Alemany said that she had previously received a text from a former 2016 Trump campaign staffer, who allegedly claimed that, “I was told by multiple people when I came aboard to never cough or sneeze while in the presence of Trump. He thinks it’s a sign of weakness and lack of control. Nobody ever recovers.”





— Jackie Alemany (@JaxAlemany) 17 June 2019

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