Washington – President Trump has criticized several female reporters who have asked him questions or written critically about him in recent weeks, calling them “ugly,” “stupid” and “pigs.”
The most recent incident occurred at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening when CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes asked the president about a suspected shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. Suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwalis an Afghan citizen who was admitted to the US under the Biden administration and granted asylum under the Trump administration.
Cordes noted that the Justice Department's inspector general found that Afghans who entered the U.S. after the fall of Kabul in 2021 were subject to extensive background checks. She asked the president: “So why are you blaming the Biden administration?”
“Because they let him in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? Because they came on a plane with thousands of other people who shouldn't be here, and you're just asking questions because you're a stupid person,” Trump responded.
Pete Marovich/Getty Images
On Wednesday, the president attacked New York Times correspondent Katie Rogers, who co-authored the article about his age and physical stamina during his second term, calling it “third-rate” and “ugly, both inside and out.”
The president's insults toward Cordes and Rogers are just the latest in recent weeks aimed at female reporters covering his presidency. Speaking to members of the press on Air Force One earlier this month, the president snapped at Bloomberg White House correspondent Catherine Luce, telling her: “Quiet. Quiet, little pig.”
Lucy asked the President about you rent files from the Justice Department's investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Asked about the comment, White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said Mr. Trump is “very open and honest” with reporters and contrasted the president's willingness to answer questions from the press with his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
“I think the president being open and open and honest to your face and not hiding behind your back is, frankly, much more respectful than what you saw in the last administration when you had a president who lied to your face and then didn't talk to you for weeks and hid upstairs and didn't answer your questions,” she said. “So I think everyone in this room should appreciate the frankness and openness that you get from President Trump almost on a daily basis.”
A Bloomberg spokesperson told the Washington Post that “our White House reporters do vital public service work by asking questions without fear or favor. We remain focused on reporting issues of public interest fairly and accurately.”
Then last week, while hosting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the Oval Office last week, Trump berated ABC News chief correspondent Mary Bruce when she asked about the 2018 murder Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. An intelligence report published The Biden administration has concluded that bin Salman ordered the attack on Khashoggi.
Trump accused Bruce of embarrassing the crown prince with her question and later called her “a terrible person and a terrible reporter.” The president called her question “horrible” and “insubordinate.”
Rogers' Wednesday snub was sparked by a New York Times article published Tuesday that examined the frequency of the president's public events and trips around the country, as well as the timing of his appearances on the public schedule. Trump is 79 years old and is the oldest person elected to the presidency.
Signs of bruising on the right arm, as well as swollen ankles raised new questions about Trump's health. The President also told reporters He underwent an MRI last month during a physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in April.
Rogers' byline on an article about Trump's aging presidency appears next to another reporter, Dylan Friedman, a machine learning engineer and New York Times journalist.
The president criticized the Times and Rogers over the article, which he said was a “hit piece.” He called the newspaper a “cheap rag” that was “the real enemy of the people.”
“The author of the article, Kathy Rogers, who is tasked with writing only bad things about me, is a third-rate reporter who is ugly inside and out,” Mr. Trump posted in Truth Social. He did not mention the co-author of the story.
The New York Times defended the article and Rogers.
“The Times' reporting is accurate and based on first-hand reporting of facts. Name-calling and personal insults will not change that, and our journalists will not hesitate to cover this administration in the face of such intimidation tactics,” a newspaper spokesperson said in a statement. statement. “Expert and thorough reporters like Kathy Rogers exemplify how an independent and free press helps the American people better understand their government and its leaders.”
The Society of Professional Journalists condemned Trump's attacks on Bruce and Lucy last week. said were not isolated, but instead were “part of a clear hostility, often directed against women, that undermines the important role of a free and independent press.”
“Journalists are not props in a photo op – they are observers of the public,” Caroline Hendry, the group's executive director, said in a statement. “When reporters ask tough questions about the murder of a fellow journalist, it's not embarrassing. It is disconcerting that the leader is trying to silence these issues.”
