T.r.u.m.p Defends R-Word Remark About Tim Walz: ‘Something’s Wrong with Him’

While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Nov. 30, as he traveled back to Washington, D.C. from Florida, Trump, 79, was asked about using the R-word to describe Walz, 61, in a late-night Thanksgiving post on Truth Social.

Trump had been discussing immigration and the Somali community in Minnesota at the time, before he aimed the offensive slur for people with intellectual disabilities at the state’s Democratic leader, writing, “The seriously retarded Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, does nothing, either through fear, incompetence, or both.”

The president was then asked by a reporter on Sunday, “You mentioned Tim Walz and you called him — what many Americans do find an offensive word — retarded,” questioning whether he stood by his comment, per a clip shared by the White House.

“Yeah, I think there’s something wrong with him, absolutely, sure,” Trump responded, adding, “I think there’s something wrong with him.”

“Anybody that would do what he did, anybody that would allow those people into a state and pay billions of dollars [to] Somalia — we give billions of dollars to Somalia,” Trump continued.

“It’s not even a country, because it doesn’t function like a country. It’s got a name, but it doesn’t function like a country. Yeah, there’s something wrong with Walz,” the president said.

A White House spokesperson didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for further comment.

While speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump also called Walz “incompetent” after being asked about the state’s Democratic leader asking the president to release the results of his recent MRI scan in an X post on Thursday, Nov. 27.

Walz wrote, “Release the MRI results,” as he reposted Trump’s late-night Truth Social Thanksgiving message, in which the president sarcastically blasted “patriots” for being “just plain STUPID” when it comes to immigration. He then focused on the Somali community in Minnesota, before using the offensive slur against Walz.

Walz then discussed the remark during an appearance on NBC News’ Meet the Press, calling the term “damaging” and “hurtful.”

“Donald Trump insulting me is a badge of honor for me, but I think we all know, as both as [an] educator for a couple of decades and as a parent, using that term is just so damaging. It’s hurtful,” Walz said.

As he spoke to reporters on Sunday, Trump was also asked about Walz urging him to release his recent MRI results, insisting he’d be happy to share the “perfect” findings of his last known physical exam, which he reportedly underwent during an Oct. 10 visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

“If you want to have it released, I’ll release it,” he said on Air Force One.

When asked if he could identify the part of his body that was looked at during the MRI, Trump told CBS News’ Weijia Jiang, “I have no idea … it wasn’t the brain because I took a cognitive test and I aced it.”

“I got a perfect mark, which you would be incapable of doing,” he added in continuance of his recent pattern of insulting women in the White House Correspondents’ Association (WCHA). Jiang, 42, is currently WCHA president.