Will Cain seemed to hype a video of Donald Trump and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) as a gotcha moment after the president said Moore called him “the greatest president of my lifetime.”
But it didn’t turn out in Trump’s favor. (Watch the video below.)
The Fox News host summarized the beef between the Democratic governor and the president over Trump’s threats to send National Guard troops to Baltimore. Cain played a clip of Trump claiming that Moore had complimented him at the Army-Navy football game in Maryland in December. Moore has vigorously denied, multiple times, that he made any such remark to Trump.
“If only we had the footage that President Trump had referenced about the meeting at the Army-Navy game, and thanks to the ‘Art of the Surge’ on Fox Nation, we have the footage,” Cain said with anticipation before playing a clip from Trump and Moore’s encounter.
In the clip, Moore is welcoming. He calls Trump “Sir.” He tells him it’s “great” to have him in Maryland and “great” to see him. They briefly discuss the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, and Trump tells him, “We’ll help you out.”
But there is absolutely no moment in which Moore calls Trump the greatest anything. A spokesperson for the governor confirmed to CNN that the clip was the entire extent of the conversation, except for a brief photo pose.
Still, Cain attempted to tiptoe around the evidence that Trump had told a whopper.
“We didn’t hear ‘the greatest president ever,’ but we did hear a lot of enthusiasm,” Cain said.
“So excited to meet you, Mr. President,” he continued, mocking Moore’s deferential tone.
“Who’s telling the truth?” Cain added, as if that were in doubt. “We’ll let you decide.”
Several major outlets had already decided. “Video debunks Trump’s claim that Md. governor called him the ‘greatest president,’” The Washington Post headline blared. “Behind-the-scenes video disproves Trump’s claim that Gov. Moore called him ‘greatest president of my lifetime,’” CNN wrote in a fact-check of the story.