"He couldn't even remember me": Trump has "severe memory issues," says author who interviewed him

The author of a new book about The Apprentice says Donald Trump is suffering from severe memory loss, with the former president not even recognizing him despite the two having just spent an hour together for an interview.

In an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Ramin Setoodeh, co-editor-in chief at Variety, said he did an hour long sit-down interview with Trump while researching for his book, "Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass." A few months later, Setoodeh met with Trump again, this time at Trump Tower, to discuss his time in the White House. Trump had "no recollection of our lengthy interview," he said.

“Donald Trump had severe memory issues," Setoodeh said. "As the journalist who spent the most time with him, I have to say, he couldn’t remember things. He couldn’t even remember me.

The remarks come after Trump said President Joe Biden should take a “cognitive test,” because “I took a cognitive test and aced it,” during a speech in Detroit this past weekend; in the next sentence, Trump couldn’t remember the name of the doctor who administered the test, twice referring to Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, as “Ronny Johnson.”

Setoodeh said the cognitive decline in the presumptive GOP candidate should not be ignored.

“I think that the American public really needs to see this portrait of Donald Trump," he said, "because this shows what he is like and who he is and who he has always been."