Trump denies mocking disabled New York Times reporter

Donald Trump has denied mocking a disabled reporter from the New York Times, saying he does not know who he is.

The billionaire property tycoon and frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination was criticised for doing an impression of Serge Kovaleski, who suffers from a congenital joint condition, at a rally in South Carolina

But in a statement on Thursday, he said: "I merely mimicked what I thought would be a flustered reporter trying to get out of a statement he made long ago.

"If Mr. Kovaleski is handicapped, I would not know because I do not know what he looks like. If I did know, I would definitely not say anything about his appearance."

Mr Kovaleski has since disputed this, saying the pair "were on a first-name basis for years" and that he met and interviewed Trump "around a dozen times" while working for The Daily News in the 1980s.