Geraldo Rivera Called Ex-Pal Donald Trump 'Three or Four Times' After Ex-Prez Lost 2020 Election: 'I Wanted to Console Him'

Former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera recently said he "misses" former President Donald Trump after a new audio recording surfaced, revealing Trump's brief acknowledgment of the 2020 presidential election results.

The audio recording is part of a conversation between Trump and Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh, featured in the upcoming book "Apprentice in Wonderland."

During the conversation, Setoodeh asked Trump about his relationship with Rivera.

While discussing the past, Trump corrected himself quickly after mentioning his defeat in the election. He stated, "He is — after I lost the election — I won the election, but when they said we lost, he called me up three or four times."

During a recent interview with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation Rivera clarified the sequence of events, claiming that it was Trump who reached out to him after the election. He also emphasized that he had "no interest in a 'p------ match'" with Trump.

Expressing a mix of nostalgia and regret, Rivera mentioned the shift in their friendship post-January 6th.

"I feel nothing but melancholy and a wistful kind of friendship lost. I like the president very much," he shared. "I still like him except what he did on Jan. 6. That kind of ended our relationship."

"I wanted to console him for his loss… but he lost, and he started asking me about things like, have I heard about Dominion, one of the computer companies that counts votes that he alleged was run by Hugo Chavez, or some absurd kind of surmise," Rivera said.

The former Fox News host highlighted that Dominion had filed defamation lawsuits against those spreading baseless election fraud claims, with Fox News settling a suit for nearly $800 million.

Reflecting on their past interactions, Rivera described Trump as a supportive figure during their time together on Celebrity Apprentice.

Rivera recalled how Trump stood by him against network executives and exhibited a kind and compassionate demeanor toward him and his family, referring to Trump as a "rabbi" in his career.

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Despite the strains in their current relationship, Rivera expressed his current sentiments toward Trump.

"I feel awful about the way things turned out," he said. "I want him to know I have no ill will toward him at all. I choose to remember the good times."

Trump has gone on to constantly deny the 2020 election results and made it a litmus test of who is or isn't loyal to his campaign.