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(Washington) “When you look for a fight, you find it”: the White House persisted on Wednesday after Donald Trump called a journalist “piggy” on the presidential plane, a sexist remark which sparked strong indignation.
“This journalist behaved in a manner that was unbecoming and unprofessional in relation to her colleagues on the plane. When you look for a fight, you find it,” commented a White House official contacted by AFP, who requested anonymity.
The way in which journalist Catherine Lucey, from the American press agency Bloomberg, questioned Donald Trump on Friday aboard theAir Force One However, there was nothing unusual about it.
When the US president answers questions, whether on his plane or in the Oval Office, journalists always vie for his attention, raising their voices and sometimes cutting each other off.
This is what happened during this exchange, which really went viral on Tuesday.
Donald Trump, who as usual came to spend a few minutes in the cabinAir Force One reserved for the press, was questioned about the Epstein affair, in which his government has been entangled for several months.
He responded, visibly annoyed, knowing nothing about the sexual crimes of the financier he had known for many years and who committed suicide in prison before his trial.
It was then that the Bloomberg journalist sought to relaunch the president with a question about his refusal to publish the investigation documents.
“Horrible person”
He interrupted her, leaned towards her, pointed at her and said, “Quiet. Silence the slut! » (“Quiet, quiet piggy”).
Since January, Donald Trump has increased verbal attacks against journalists representing media he considers hostile.
Contacted by AFP for a reaction, the association which represents White House correspondents (WHCA) did not immediately respond.
On Tuesday, the US president also attacked ABC News’ Mary Bruce.
“You are a horrible person,” said Donald Trump, calling his channel “fake news” and believing that the media should be deprived of its license.
The journalist asked him questions about possible conflicts of interest in Saudi Arabia and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, while the American president received the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in the Oval Office.
She also mentioned the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which triggered the fury of Donald Trump. He criticized him for seeking to “embarrass” the Saudi leader, who had been implicated by American intelligence services in this murder.
The White House returned to attack ABC on Wednesday, calling it in a press release “a Democratic communications operation masquerading as a television channel.” »
The channel, targeted by one of the numerous legal actions launched by the American president against the media, agreed at the end of last year to pay him $15 million in compensation to put an end to defamation proceedings.
