White House defends Trump after his ‘piggy’ insult to reporter sparks backlash

The White Home defended President Donald Trump’s viral insult to a reporter, which sparked backlash from critics within the media.

Throughout Thursday’s information convention, White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was requested what Trump meant when he known as Bloomberg correspondent Catherine Lucey “piggy” throughout a tense dialog on Air Drive One in regards to the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“Look, the president may be very candid and trustworthy with everybody on this room,” Leavitt mentioned. ‘You noticed it your self. You’ve got all skilled it your self. And I feel one of many many causes that the American folks re-elected this president is due to his outspokenness. And he calls out faux information when he sees it.

“He will get pissed off with reporters if you lie about him, if you unfold faux information about him and his administration. However he’s additionally probably the most clear president in historical past,” she continued, earlier than praising the “unprecedented entry” Trump has given reporters in comparison with the Biden administration.

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White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended President Donald Trump for calling a reporter “piggy” throughout a press convention on November 20, 2025. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

On November 14, Lucey pressed Trump in regards to the 2019 Epstein e mail launched by Home Democrats final week, through which Epstein claimed Trump “knew in regards to the ladies,” and requested the president what Epstein meant by that.

“Jeffrey Epstein and I had a really dangerous relationship for years. However he additionally noticed energy as a result of I used to be president, so he dictated a number of memos to himself. Give me a break,” Trump mentioned earlier than commenting on others related to Epstein, akin to former President Invoice Clinton and former Harvard President Larry Summers.

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As Trump started to take a query from one other reporter, Lucey tried to stress him additional along with her query.

“Quiet…quiet, little pig!” Trump snapped and pointed his finger at her.

President Donald Trump scolded Bloomberg correspondent Catherine Lucey. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Photos)

Members of the media condemned Trump’s assault on Lucey on social media.

CNN’s Jake Tapper known as the remark “disgusting and fully unacceptable.”

New York Occasions columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote, “A feminine reporter does her job by asking President Trump a troublesome query. And the ‘chief of the free world’ responds with a dismissive, misogynistic contempt that shames the presidency.”

The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins wrote, “The president continues to behave in a means that no father or mother I do know would tolerate from his elementary-school-age youngsters.”

Trump additionally clashed with ABC Information correspondent Mary Bruce, calling her “faux information” after she requested pointed questions of him and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman throughout an Oval Workplace alternate on Tuesday.

He later punched Bruce when she requested in regards to the launch of the Epstein information.

“It is not the query that pursuits me. It is your angle. I feel you are a horrible reporter. It is the way in which you ask these questions,” Trump advised Bruce. “You begin with a person who is very revered and ask him a horrible, disobedient and simply plain horrible query.”

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ABC Information correspondent Mary Bruce (proper) questioned President Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman throughout their Oval Workplace alternate on November 18, 2025. (Win McNamee/Getty Photos; Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

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