Donald Trump would have fired Dan Rather a long time ago, he said on “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace” this morning. Trump’s opinion of Memogate: “I think it was disgusting the way it was handled by Dan Rather, and I don’t know why they’re firing other people. He was the head of it. So why aren’t they firing Dan Rather? But I guess they want to let him go gracefully.” Full transcript after the jump…
WALLACE: Dan Rather is stepping down as the anchor of the “CBS Evening News” this week.
TRUMP: Right.
WALLACE: You don’t care much for him, do you?
TRUMP: Well, I think he did a report on me that was very dishonest, so since then, I don’t deal with him.
And I’ve never understood how he stays in position so long. How does this guy stay in position when he always has the lowest ratings? I mean, he’s had bad ratings for years. Now this isn’t just a — a new phenomenon. Dan Rather’s had the worst ratings for years. And he continues to go forward. So I never understood it.
So I’m not a big fan of Dan Rather. I don’t want to be a fan of Dan Rather. I don’t think he’s good at the news. I don’t think a lot of people think he’s good at the news. He was always highly overrated. And other than that, you know…
WALLACE: Other than that, you’re going to send him some flowers.
TRUMP: Other than that, I think he’s a wonderful guy.
WALLACE: What do you think of the whole Bush “Memogate”?
TRUMP: Well, I think it was disgusting the way it was handled by Dan Rather, and I don’t know why they’re firing other people. He was the head of it. So why aren’t they firing Dan Rather? But I guess they want to let him go gracefully.
WALLACE: What would you do?
TRUMP: I would have fired him a long time ago.
WALLACE: How would you have done it?
TRUMP: I would have said, “Dan, you’re fired.”