President Donald Trump was involved in a tense exchange with his Mexican counterpart, Enrique Peña Nieto, over Trump's planned border wall when the two met in January, according to a transcript released Thursday. On Friday, Peña Nieto's predecessor reinforced that he would have been even firmer with Trump in Mexico's refusal to pay for the border barrier—and his colorful language on the topic led to blushes aplenty on the CNN set.
"Well, you could use my words, 'We'll never pay for that fucking wall,'" Vicente Fox said in response to a question from CNN host Alisyn Camerota over whether Peña Nieto was forceful enough. "That makes it more clear.
"But it's still who can think about a country paying for a wall that is going to be built in the neighbor's territory. Why should Mexico pay for the wall? What's the reason? We don't need a wall. If Trump wants to build a wall, he has to go to Congress, and he has to tell the truth to U.S. taxpayers that they're going to pay for that."
Oh, you know, just former Mexican President Vicente Fox dropping the F-bomb live on CNN. Alisyn Camerota's reaction was priceless. pic.twitter.com/Zjwa6vGYtU
— Josh Sánchez (@jnsanchez) August 4, 2017
CNN should have been prepared for Fox's response. After all, it is far from the first time the former president, who led Mexico between 2000 and 2006, has used that exact language when expressing his feelings on funding the wall. Indeed, he tweeted those sentiments again on Thursday.
"@realDonaldTrump, once again I tell you: we're not paying for the #FuckingWall! Don't try use us for your own good," he wrote to his 789,000 followers.
Still, Camerota was visibly taken aback by Fox's language and conceded that more precautions should have been taken so that CNN's early-morning viewers were not exposed to a powerful dose of the F-bomb.
"I apologize to our morning audience for the salty language this morning," Camerota said in response. "Perhaps I should have taken the offer for a five-second delay."
During the segment, Fox also compared Trump to a dictator, and to Venezuela's embattled President Nicolás Maduro, over his handling of the media. Specifically, he chastised Trump for attempting to persuade Peña Nieto not to say publicly that Mexico would not pay for the wall.
"You cannot say that to the press," Trump said to Peña Nieto in a phone call on January 27, a transcript of which was published by The Washington Post Thursday. "The press is going to go with that, and I cannot live with that. You cannot say that to the press because I cannot negotiate under those circumstances."
