White House defends Trump on his ‘quite piggy’ remark

The White House on Thursday defended US President Donald Trump after he called a female Bloomberg reporter “piggy” while being questioned about emails from Jeffrey Epstein aboard Air Force One, describing the remark as a reflection of his frankness, according to a White House briefing.

During the briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s openness and directness with the press were reasons voters re-elected him and that reporters should appreciate his frankness. “Look, the president is very frank and honest with everyone in this room. You’ve all seen it yourself, you’ve all experienced it yourselves,” she said, according to foreign media reports.

In the wake of a couple of incidents wherein US president was seen lashing out at women reporters, the White House has defended his remarks. Trump has, in recent days, confronted two female journalists from US news outlets for their questions.

On Tuesday, during a White House visit by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump lashed out at a foreign media outlet correspondent as she posed questions to the Saudi crown prince regarding the murder of a dissident Saudi journalist in 2018, and also on the business dealings of Trump’s family and the Jeffrey Epstein controversy.

Following her questions, Trump told her not to “embarrass our guest”, and threatened to suspend the affiliated broadcast’s license while calling her a “terrible reporter.”

In an earlier instance, Trump confronted another foreign outlet’s reporter after she asked why his administration was reluctant to release material on Epstein. “Quiet, Piggy,” said Trump to the reporter.

On camera, the clip went viral, fueling criticism over the exchange. Leavitt added that Trump often expresses frustration with what he sees as false reporting. “He calls out fake news when he sees it and gets frustrated with reporters who spread false information,” she said, foreign media reported.

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) condemned the president’s language toward the reporters. SPJ Executive Director Caroline Hendrie said targeting female reporters with humiliating insults “should not be tolerated.”