Jimmy Kimmel Wants Retraction and Correction From Donald Trump Over 'Weird Detailed Lie' About Him

Jimmy Kimmel fought fire with fire on Wednesday night's Jimmy Kimmel Live, calling for President Donald Trump to retract and correct a "weird detailed lie" he apparently made up about the talk show host at a campaign rally last June.

Kimmel's request for a correction was precipitated by Trump spokesperson Tim Murtaugh calling out Kimmel for repeating the "long-disproven lie" that Trump was golfing during the raid that killed Islamic State militant group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Saturday.

Murtaugh, who is director of communications for Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, tweeted a timeline of Trump's whereabouts the day of the raid, which disproves the claim that Trump was golfing. "Real timeline was out way before Kimmel's show. He should retract & correct," wrote Murtaugh.

On Wednesday's Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kimmel acquiesced Murtaugh's request. "I was wrong, I hereby officially retract and correct my statement, because it's the right thing to do," Kimmel said.

But Kimmel then requested a retraction and correction of his own from Trump, showing a clip of Trump speaking about the comedian during a June 2018 campaign rally in West Columbia, South Carolina.

Trump told the audience at the event that during previous appearances on Kimmel's show, "Jimmy Kimmel would meet me ... he'd stand on the sidewalk waiting for me: 'Oh, here he comes, Donald Trump.' He opens my door. I said, 'Does he do this for everybody?' He does it for nobody. He's standing out on Hollywood Boulevard ... he's opening up the door, 'Oh, hello!' I wasn't president. I was just a guy."

Playing the clip on Wednesday's show, Kimmel laughed: "Almost every word of that is a lie, other than I do it for nobody. That part is true. I do it for nobody—including him."

Trump also told the rally crowd Kimmel has "no talent" and he wouldn't go on his show now he's president, adding, "That guy's terrible."

To this Kimmel responded, "I assume when he said I was terrible he meant 'terrific,' which is what he tweeted about me before he was president," and showed a tweet from 2014 on screen.

Speaking to Murtaugh directly, Kimmel said: "Let me know, Tim, when the president will retract and correct that weird detailed lie he made up about me. It's been more than a year. I'm waiting.

"And while you're working on factual accuracy, your boss has now lied in public approximately 14,000 times since he took office. He should probably start the retracting and correcting soon because he's 73," Kimmel added.

Meanwhile, Kimmel's mash-up of the very different speeches given by Trump after Baghdadi's death and predecessor President Barack Obama when Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011, has attracted more than 15 million views on YouTube.