Donald Trump Claimed Joan Rivers Voted for Him in 2016 Even Though She Died in 2014, New Book Reveals
June 14 2024, Published 12:52 p.m. ET
Donald Trump needs to get his facts straight!
The ex-president, 78, claimed Joan Rivers voted for him in 2016 — even though she died in 2014, a new book about The Apprentice claims.
In Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass, Variety's Co-Editor-in-Chief Ramin Setoodeh asked Trump about his relationship with Rivers, who won Season 8 of the show in 2009.
"I thought she might have been a Republican," Trump said about the comedian, who died as a result of complications of low blood oxygen during a medical procedure she underwent at a Manhattan clinic. "I know one thing: she voted for me, according to what she said."
Rivers, who was close with both Trump and his rival Hillary Clinton, didn't get to witness the 2016 election.
Elsewhere in the book, he spoke about The Apprentice being rebranded as Celebrity Apprentice later on. "I don't even call it The Celebrity Apprentice, I just call it The Apprentice. I always called it The Apprentice purposefully, because it was The Apprentice. I thought it was a good name, but I just call it The Apprentice," he said.
"I thought it was disrespectful," Trump added before mentioning Rivers. "I mean, I got the biggest stars to go on that show. It was so easy. You know Joan Rivers wouldn't do a show like that normally, right?"
- 'Pathetic': Pete Hegseth Ridiculed for Enlisting His Mother to Help Save His Secretary of Defense Nomination — Source
- Donald Trump Moves to Toss Georgia Criminal Case 1 Month After Winning 2024 Election
- 'I Thought He Was DeSanctomonious': Donald Trump Ridiculed for Considering Ron DeSantis as His Nominee for Secretary of Defense
Want OK! each day? Sign up here!
Trump also recalled when the actress learned that her daughter, Melissa Rivers, was let go from the show. "Joan was so angry," the business man said. "She went crazy when I fired the daughter. Joan loved Melissa more than anything she's ever loved before. She thought Melissa was the end-all, and she went totally crazy in defense of her daughter. Oh, they were both yelling. It was great TV. But maybe Joan had more of a right to be yelling."
"Despite the anger about Melissa, she was a big fan!" he continued. "She said, 'Nobody else that I've met could have done what you did.' She meant it too."
Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!
In 2017, Melissa made it clear that her mother would have never voted for Donald.
“She knew them both,” Melissa said of the late star's relationships with Donald and Hillary. “Our families had a very long, outside-of-the-spotlight relationship with the whole Trump family. I think in the beginning she would have been like, ‘Yes, great, great, great, super,’ and then she would have been like, ‘Oh s---” as he came closer to the presidency."
“She truly in her heart believed women are smarter and better and not so busy comparing how big it is with each other and just get s--- done,” she shared. “I truly believe she felt for a long time it was time for a woman president, like ‘Enough of you boys pounding your chests, it’s so boring, let’s get a woman in there and get s--- organized and done.’ I think in the end of it all, she would have definitely been a Hillary supporter.”