(AFP) – The White House doubled down Wednesday after two incidents in which President Donald Trump angrily confronted female reporters from US news outlets. It called ABC News a “Democrat spin operation masquerading as a broadcast network” after Trump lashed out at TV correspondent Mary Bruce in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
And after Trump said “quiet, piggy” to Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey on Air Force One on Friday, the White House said that “if you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take.” The verbal assaults were markedly harsh even for Trump, renowned for his confrontational approach to what he calls the “fake news.”
He reacted furiously during a White House visit by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday when ABC’s Bruce posed questions about the murder of a dissident Saudi journalist in 2018, the Trump family’s business dealings, and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Trump told Bruce in the Oval Office not to “embarrass our guest,” called her a “terrible reporter,” and threatened ABC’s broadcast license.
The White House followed up on Wednesday, putting out a fact sheet containing examples from the past eight years of what it said was a “deliberate deception to wage war on President Trump and the millions of Americans who elected him to multiple terms.” It was similarly unrepentant about Bloomberg’s Lucey, who asked Trump why he would not release material on Epstein, accusing the wire service journalist of “unprofessional behavior.”
In footage of the incident, Lucey and another reporter could be heard trying to talk at the same time — a common occurrence as journalists in the press corps try to get the president’s attention. A White House official said on condition of anonymity: “This reporter behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way towards her colleagues on the plane. If you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take.”
The White House Correspondents Association, an independent organization that represents journalists who cover the US president, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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