In his latest attack on female journalists, President Donald Trump berated a CNN reporter, telling her to “be quiet” after she asked questions about U.S. military exercises with South Korea.
CNN White House correspondent Kristen Holmes asked Trump on Monday if he ordered the reduction in military activities at the request of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
“Did he ask you specifically to scale back on those?” Holmes asked.
“You’re very disrespectful,” Trump said while seated next to a teenage lifeguard he invited to the White House who rescued a child in California.
Trump did not stop there, calling Holmes a “loud, boisterous person.”
The president also dismissed accounts of poor living conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran war when questioned by another reporter.
Since he started his second term, Trump has publicly castigated women for asking about the release of the Epstein files, the vetting of Afghans, his age and health, incursions into Venezuela and boat strikes. In his first term, he also repeatedly attacked female reporters and lawmakers, particularly women of color.
An official White House X account shared a video of another exchange Monday between Trump and Holmes, about recent comments by Sen. Jon Ossoff, with the caption, “@KristenhCNN is a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession.”
“Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question,” the White House said. “They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive. It’s quite troubling.”
Trump has also repeatedly lashed out at Kaitlan Collins, the network’s chief White House correspondent and evening anchor, calling her “stupid and nasty” on social media in December and criticizing her for not smiling more in his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last month.
CNN issued a statement Monday reaffirming its support for Holmes, calling her “one of the most respected and accomplished journalists covering the White House” and rejecting Trump’s comments “in the strongest possible terms.”
“Public officials are free to challenge reporting they disagree with, but personal attacks on journalists for asking questions are beneath the office and inconsistent with the principles of a free press,” the network said.
In May, Trump called MS NOW’s Akayla Gardner “a dumb person” for accurately pointing out that the cost of his ballroom had doubled since it was first announced. In November, Trump told Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey aboard Air Force One, “Quiet, piggy,” after she asked about the government’s files on Jeffrey Epstein.
That same month, he called ABC’s Mary Bruce “terrible” and “insubordinate” after she asked Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
In December, Trump slammed New York Times reporter Katie Rogers, who co-authored an article on the president’s signs of aging, as “a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out,” and told ABC’s Rachel Scott that she was “obnoxious” and “terrible” when she asked about a strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat off the coast of Venezuela.
Trump also asked CBS’ Nancy Cordes if she was stupid when she attempted to fact-check his claim that the Biden administration did not vet Afghan nationals.
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