CNN's Audie Cornish professed herself shocked Friday morning by a blunt question that led President Donald Trump to make a bleak ballroom admission in a new New York Magazine report.
Reporter Ben Terris appeared on "CNN This Morning" to discuss his tour of the White House ballroom construction site with the 80-year-old president — and the direct questions he asked.
"Now, did I read right?" Cornish asked.
Cornish was struck that Terris asked Trump about Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) hypothesizing that he was building monuments to himself because he knew no one else will after he’s gone.
Terris explained how the interview went down.
"I said, 'Sen. Jon Ossoff said that you're building monuments to yourself because nobody's going to do it when you're gone – how do you respond to that?'" Terris said.
That's when Trump got dark.
"He's right, nobody else would do it," Trump reportedly said. "I'm the only one who would do it once I'm gone. You know, once I'm gone, nobody else will do it for me."
Cornish argued Trump is clearly thinking about the end of his presidency, which she flagged as noteworthy.
"Meaning he's thinking about leaving, which I think some people would be interested to note," she said.
Terris suggested that the 80-year-old Trump was also thinking of his own mortality.
"I think more that he's thinking about how he'll be around forever in certain ways," he said.
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