Washington- President Trump has lashed out at several female journalists who asked questions or wrote criticism of him in recent weeks, calling them “ugly,” “stupid” and “sluts.”
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 the suspect in the case. shooting of two members of the National Guard in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwalis an Afghan national who was admitted to the United States under the Biden administration and granted asylum under the Trump administration.
Cordes pointed out that the Justice Department’s inspector general found that Afghans who entered the United States after the fall of Kabul in 2021 had been carefully vetted. 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 flew in, with thousands of other people who shouldn’t be here, and you’re just asking questions because you’re a stupid person,” Mr. Trump responded.
Pete Marovitch/Getty Images
On Wednesday, the president attacked New York Times correspondent Katie Rogers, who co-wrote an article about her age and physical stamina during his second term, calling her “third-rate” and “ugly, both inside and out.”
The president’s insults against Cordes and Rogers are just the latest in recent weeks against female journalists covering his presidency. While speaking to members of the press on Air Force One earlier this month, the president lashed out at Bloomberg’s White House correspondent, Catherine Lucey, telling her, “Calm down. Calm down, pig.”
Lucey asked the president about I rent the files of the Justice Department’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Asked about the comment, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Mr. Trump was “very frank and honest” with reporters and compared the president’s willingness to answer questions from the press to that of his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
“I think having the president be frank and open and honest to your face rather than hiding behind your back is, frankly, a lot more respectful than what you saw under the last administration, where you had a president who would lie to your face and then not talk to you for weeks and hide upstairs and not answer your questions,” she said. “So I think everyone in this room should appreciate the frankness and openness that you receive from President Trump almost on a daily basis.”
A Bloomberg spokesperson told the Washington Post that “our White House reporters perform a vital public service, asking questions without fear or favor. We remain focused on reporting fairly and accurately on issues of public concern.”
Then last week, while accommodation Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office last week Mr. Trump chastised ABC News chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce when she questioned about 2018 murder by Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. A intelligence report released by the Biden administration concluded that Bin Salman ordered the attack on Khashoggi.
Mr Trump accused Bruce of embarrassing the crown prince with his question and later called her a “terrible person and a terrible journalist”. The president called his question “horrible” and “insubordinate.”
Wednesday’s insult against Rogers was prompted by a New York Times article published Tuesday that examined the frequency of the president’s public events and domestic travel, as well as the timing of his appearances on his public program. At 79, Mr. Trump is the oldest person elected to the presidency.
Signs of bruising on the right hand as well as swollen ankles sparked new questions about Mr. Trump’s health. The president also revealed to journalists last month, he underwent an MRI during a physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in April.
Rogers’ byline on the article about Mr. Trump aging in office is listed alongside another reporter, Dylan Freedman, a machine learning engineer and reporter for the New York Times.
The president attacked the Times and Rogers over the article, calling it a “hit piece.” He called the newspaper a “cheap rag” that is “truly an ‘enemy of the people’.”
“The author of the story, Katie Rogers, who is responsible for writing only bad things about me, is a third-rate journalist who is ugly, both inside and out,” Mr. Trump wrote on 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 the facts. Name-calling and personal insults don’t change that, nor will our journalists hesitate to cover this administration in the face of intimidation tactics like this,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Expert, detail-oriented journalists like Katie Rogers illustrate how a free, independent press helps the American people better understand their government and leaders.”
The Society of Professional Journalists condemned Mr Trump’s attacks on Bruce and Lucey last week, which it said were not isolated but “part of an unmistakable pattern of hostility – often directed at women – that undermines the essential role of a free and independent press”.
“Journalists are not props at a photo shoot, they are watchdogs of the public,” Caroline Hendrie, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “When journalists ask difficult questions about the murder of a fellow journalist, they don’t mind. What’s embarrassing is when a leader tries to silence those questions.”
