On Thursday (November 20), White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was questioned about President Donald Trump scolding Bloomberg New reporter Catherine Lucey when she asked him about the Jeffrey Epstein files last week while on Air Force One. “Quiet, piggy!” he replied to Lucey.
“What did the president mean when he called the reporter piggy?”, a reporter asked Leavitt. She replied, “Look, the president is very frank and honest with everyone in this room…You have all experienced it yourself and I think it is one of the many reasons the American people reelected this president, because of his frankness. And he calls out fake news when he sees it. He gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him, when you spread fake news about him and his administration.”
Leavitt continued, “The president being frank and open and honest to your faces, rather than hiding behind your backs, is, frankly, a lot more respectful than what you saw in the last administration.”
With the last line, Leavitt appeared to suggest that former President Joe Biden’s administration wasn’t respectful of the press. But Trump’s comments to Lucey seems to be part of a growing pattern where he’s comfortable being rude to members of the press, especially if they’re women.
Trump became upset with ABC News reporter Mary Bruce on Tuesday during an Oval Office meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. It was in response to her asking about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, with a followup question about the Epstein files.
In September, NBC News White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor asked Trump “Are you trying to go to war with Chicago?” as he was heading to New York City for the U.S. Open. He called her question “fake news”, and when Alcindor tried to follow up, he snapped “Be quiet, listen! You don’t listen! You never listen. That’s why you’re second-rate.”
