Former Mexican President Vicente Fox is not one to mince words, especially when it comes to criticizing President Donald Trump’s pledge to make Mexico pay for a wall along the southern border.
It was clear Friday morning that Fox still feels as strongly as ever, as the former president let one of his infamous f-bombs slip on live air during an appearance on “New Day.”
CNN’s Alisyn Camerota was questioning Fox about current Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s “diplomatic” tone when conversing with Trump in a leaked transcript of their January phone call.
“Do you think that the President of Mexico should have been more forceful in saying it’s never going to happen?” Camerota asked.
“Well, you can use my words: We’ll never pay for that f—ing wall,” Fox said. “Why should Mexico pay for the wall? What’s the reason?”
Camerota quickly followed up with an apology: “I apologize to our morning audience for the salty language this morning.”
“Perhaps I should have taken that offer for the five-second delay,” she added with a laugh.
Fox, who was President of Mexico from 2000-06, also slammed Trump for urging Peña Nieto to remain quiet on the issue of the southern border wall after Peña Nieto publicly disputed Trump’s claims about Mexico footing the bill.
“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,” Trump told Peña Nieto over the phone.
“If you notice in that conversation, what Trump is trying to do is to save face in front of his voters,” Fox said Friday. “He’s not looking after America. It’s just him trying to save face.”
Fox’s “New Day” appearance is not the first time that he has used colorful language to describe his opposition to Trump’s border wall.
In a February 2016 interview, Fox told Fusion’s Jorge Ramos: “I’m not going to pay for that f—king wall. He should pay for it.”
Trump quickly fired back on Twitter. “FMR PRES of Mexico, Vicente Fox horribly used the F word when discussing the wall. He must apologize! If I did that there would be a uproar!” he tweeted in February.
Fox also used the expletive in an interview with Fox Business Network, discussing the same topic.
Trump ran for office promising to build a wall along the US southern border that would be funded by Mexico, but since taking office, Trump has said that the US will pay for the wall’s initial construction with reimbursement from Mexico coming later.
“We have never thought we would be in a situation like this with a leading nation of the world, the greatest nation of the world, the United States,” Fox said Friday.
At the conclusion of their “New Day” interview, Camerota thanked Fox for his “unpredictable” and “ever-surprising interview moments.”