MSNBC host Joe Scarborough and the New Yorker writer who recently authored a lengthy profile on President Trump’s former hit TV series “The Apprentice” and its creator, Mark Burnett, agreed on one thing Friday morning: the rumored tape of Mr. Trump saying the N-word on set doesn’t exist.

Mr. Scarborough, a former Republican and former personal friend of the president, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he never knew the president to be racist or to use racially charged rhetoric.

“He did not say racially insensitive things, at least around us, behind closed doors,” Mr. Scarborough said. “In fact, if you just look at the women that he dated and continued to date, it certainly goes against that. The people that he hung out with, the friends that he had, the acquaintances he had in Atlantic City — it certainly would suggest that was not a part of Donald Trump’s personality until he decided in a grotesque way to make it a part of his political persona.”

Patrick Radden Keefe, the New Yorker writer who recently authored “How Mark Burnett resurrected Donald Trump as an icon of American success,” said he came to the same conclusion while researching the piece.

“There’s been a lot of speculation about Trump using the N-Word,” Mr. Keefe said. “I don’t know what I don’t know but having talked to a whole bunch of people about this, but I came out believing that tape probably doesn’t exist.”

Rumors have swirled since the 2016 presidential campaign that there are tapes of Mr. Trump uttering the N-word among other offensive comments on “The Apprentice” set. Former White House aide and “Apprentice” contestant Omarosa Manigault and former “Apprentice” producer Chris Nee have said the tape exists. Actor Tom Arnold even launched a Viceland docuseries titled, “The Hunt for the Trump Tapes,” dedicated to tracking down information about the alleged footage.

In August, Mr. Trump denied that he had ever used racial slurs, tweeting, “@MarkBurnettTV called to say that there are no tapes of the Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa.”

Jonathon Braun, a former supervising editor on “The Apprentice,” told Mr. Keefe for his New Yorker piece that he also doubted any such footage existed.

“I was the supervising editor on the first six seasons,” he said. “I didn’t watch every frame, but in everything I saw, I didn’t hear him saying anything so horrible.

“If there was a tape, it would have spread like wildfire,” he said.

Another former “Apprentice” staffer agreed, adding, “If somebody had the goods, it would have leaked long ago. There were no Trump fans on the set. I don’t know a single person who worked on the show who voted for Trump.”

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