Donald Trump's Claims She Wanted to Pump Breast Milk In Front of Him 'Not True': Lawyer
— -- Donald Trump has responded to allegations he had a “meltdown” when a lawyer asked for a break from a deposition to pump breast milk for her newborn daughter by saying the attorney, Elizabeth Beck, wanted to pump in front of him.
In an interview with ABC News, Beck called the claims “not true” and explained she had been pumping in a private conference room during the week of the deposition.
“They don’t cite any support,” Beck said. “I was, for example, not in a state of undress.”
Trump told CNN Wednesday, "She wanted to breast pump in front of me and I may have said that's disgusting, I may have said something else. I thought it was terrible."
Beck said she instead gestured to her pump to explain why she needed to take a break, but stressed she was always going to “pump in private.” It was then Beck said Trump had a “meltdown.”
"He completely lost it," she said. "And he left, ran out of there and the lawyers were just standing there with their mouths hanging open. He didn’t return.”
She said he started to “shake, his face got really red, he pointed his finger and shook it and said, ‘You’re disgusting! You’re disgusting!' Then he bolted and no one saw him again.”
The incident was first reported in the New York Times. Beck also provided a copy of the November 2011 deposition to ABC News. In it Trump also seems to not want to stop the deposition even for a moment to let one of his own attorneys take a bathroom break.
The lawyer asks if he can “take a one-minute break for the restroom,” to which Beck says, “Yes, of course. I was going to say we take a five to ten-minute break.”
Trump then responds: “You have to take a one-minute break? Can we go on and finish this? Let's not take a one-minute break.”
Trump’s attorney Alan Garten — who was in the room during the incident — spoke to ABC News and vigorously denied the situation happened the way Beck described, saying, “she is completely distorting the facts. Her telling of the story is absolutely absurd. She should be ashamed of herself and she should be ashamed of her behavior.”
Garten continued, saying it “has nothing to do with breastfeeding, this is only about one thing, acting professionally in a legal proceeding.” He also said, like Trump, he did think she would pump in front of them.
“That would not shock me,” he said. “It was certainly bizarre behavior and that is consistent with her behavior throughout the case.”
Beck said when it comes to Trump’s presidential aspirations she’s concerned about his “inability to handle stressful situations.”
“If something so innocuous makes this man scream and run out, what else is going to make this man scream and run out? What other weird weaknesses does he have? And are we going to leave it to other countries to find out how our future president may behave when a piece of plastic shows up at meetings?,” she said referring to parts of the breast pump.
ABC's John Santucci contributed to this report.
