NBC News demands Trump campaign takes down fake clip

The video shared online last month had been doctored to abuse the former president’s Republican presidential nominee rivals

NBC News has reportedly demanded that Donald Trump’s campaign remove a video that has been doctored to abuse his Republican presidential nominee rivals.

The video, shared last month on social media, shows footage of NBC News correspondent Garrett Haake introducing a segment ahead of the third GOP debate – which Mr Trump once again did not attend.

As the clip cuts from Mr Haake to footage of the candidates, Mr Haake’s voice appears to continue, making disparaging comments about the GOP hopefuls.

The video was later confirmed to be a parody, and had been audio deceptively edited, sources close to the demands by NBC told Semafor.

In the clip, the voice is heard to say: “This is Ron DeSantis: An establishment RINO that wears insoles in order to look taller. And this is Nikki Haley: Nobody really gives a s*** about Nikki Haley.”

Cutting to footage of Tim Scott, it continues: “This guy is probably just a stage hand,” and describes Vivek Ramaswamy as “probably just delivering pizzas.”

It is even less kind to Chris Christie, declaring: “Who the f*** invited this guy?”

The video was shared by Trump senior adviser Chris LaCivita, who wrote on X: “Now this is reporting!”

Mr LaCivita later posted again, clarifying: “To keep @NBCNews Lawyers off my ass, please note…. THIS IS A PARODY!”

The Independent has reached out to both the Trump campaign and NBC News for comment.