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US president Donald Trump, who has popularised the term ‘fake news’ over his two presidential terms, is known to clash with the media over coverage and questions with which he doesn’t agree, with many of these heated exchanges involving female reporters.
In October 2018, the Republican called on Cecilia Vega, then the chief White House correspondent for ABC News, and told her: “I know you’re not thinking, you never do.”
To give two other examples, he told a reporter in March 2020 to “be nice, don’t be threatening”, and then a month later, during a press conference on the coronavirus, he told CBS reporter Weijia Jiang to “keep your voice down” when she pressed the president on the effectiveness of his China travel ban.
And with the second Trump administration facing scrutiny over the Epstein files, comments about taking ownership of Greenland and Canada, the many controversial renovation projects and more, there’s been many more instances of the president locking horns with the media.
We’ve rounded up many of them below – you’re welcome.
September 7, 2025: “You don’t listen, you never listen”:
After Trump posted an AI-generated meme of himself in a hat and sunglasses looking out as several helicopters fly above a fiery city, complete with the text ‘Chipocalypse Now’ and the caption “I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’ Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR”, one female journalist asked if he was trying to go to war with the US state.
Snapping at the reporter, he replied: “Be quiet! Listen.
“You don’t listen, you never listen. That’s why you’re second-rate.
“We’re not going to war. We’re gonna clean up our cities.”
September 19, 2025: “You’re really obnoxious”:
In the Oval Office, American Urban Radio Networks reporter Ebony McMorris attempted to ask a question about plans to send the National Guard into the state of Memphis.
Trump said: “Quiet. You’re really obnoxious. You’re really obnoxious.”
McMorris replied: “I’m not obnoxious, but I am asking, what are your plans for Memphis?”
Trump then said: “I’m not going to talk to you until I call on you.”
October 20, 2025: “If you know anything about what you were talking about...”:
During a meeting with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, Latika Bourke from Aussie newspaper The Nightly asked a question about the war in Ukraine.
She said: “You are the most powerful man on earth. Why don’t you just enable Ukraine to finish this war tomorrow?”
Trump replied: “Well, if you knew anything about what you were talking about…”
“I do, I do,” Bourke interjected.
The president continued: “You do? I don’t think you do, really. I don’t think you do, because it’s a little more complicated than that.”
November 18, 2025: “Quiet, piggy”:
In one of the most infamous examples of Trump lashing out at a reporter, he referred to a female journalist as “piggy” while telling her to be quiet.
The journalist, reportedly from Bloomberg, was attempting to ask about the Epstein files.
Addressing the incident during a White House press briefing, then press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “I think everyone in this room should appreciate the frankness and the openness that you get from President Trump on a near daily basis.”
November 19, 2025: “You’re a terrible reporter”:
Just days later, when Trump was in the Oval Office with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, ABC News reporter Mary Bruce asked why the president was waiting for Congress to release the Epstein files, adding: “Why not just do it now?”
Trump replied: “It’s not the question that I mind, it’s the attitude. I think you’re a terrible reporter.”
November 28, 2025: “Are you stupid?”:
Following a shooting in Washington, D.C. which resulted in one National Guard member dying of their injuries and left another critically wounded – CBS News’ White House correspondent Nancy Cordes asked why Trump was putting blame on his predecessor Joe Biden for the incident.
“Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person,” replied Trump. “Because they came in on a plane, along with thousands of other people that shouldn’t be here, and you’re just asking questions ‘cause you’re a stupid person.
November 30, 2025: “I got a perfect mark, which you would be incapable of doing”:
After Trump received an MRI scan, one female reporter asked the president on board Air Force One what part of the body the scan was looking at.
The Republican responded: “I have no idea. It was just an MRI.
“It wasn’t the brain because I took a cognitive test and aced it. I got a perfect mark, which you would be incapable of doing.”
December 8, 2025: “You are an obnoxious reporter”:
Rachel Scott of ABC News asked Trump in the Cabinet Room of the White House about a controversial “second strike” the US Navy conducted on a Venezuelan boat and the release of the full video of the strike.
Days prior, he told reporters that “whatever they have, we’d certainly release”.
However, snapping at Scott, he said: “I didn’t say that. It’s you said that.”
Turning to the person on his left, Trump added: “This is ABC fake news.”
He later told Scott: “You’re an obnoxious … actually a terrible reporter.”
January 14, 2026: “You don’t know what I’m going to do”:
When a reporter asked Trump if he would potentially take Greenland by force, the president interrupted: “You’re saying that … No you’re saying that. I didn’t say that.
“You don’t know what I’m going to do. Your network doesn’t know, either.”
February 3, 2026: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile”:
Trump lashed out at CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins in the Oval Office in February, after she attempted to ask the president what he would say to the survivors of the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Republican snapped: “You are the worst reporter. CNN has no ratings because of people like you.
“She’s a young woman. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile, I’ve known you for 10 years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile on your face.
“Do you know why you’re not smiling? ‘Cause you know you’re not telling the truth.
“You’re a very dishonest organization, and they should be ashamed of you.”
Collins later told talk show host Stephen Colbert that she had been “inundated” with people sending photos of her smiling.
She also said: “I don’t think it’s a controversial opinion that you shouldn’t smile when you’re asking questions about a sex trafficker and sexual assault victims.”
February 6, 2026: “You have a very bad attitude”:
When Washington Post reporter Natalie Allison asked Trump about a reported split within the MAGA movement over his immigration agenda on board Air Force One, the president replied: “Washington Post? Are you having a hard time getting readers? The Washington Post is doing very poorly … You have a very bad attitude.”
March 11, 2026: “You’re a rotten reporter”:
Outside the White House in March, PBS News Hour reporter Liz Landers asked Trump about the FBI reportedly seizing Arizona election records, to which the president replied that it was because “they probably thought the election was rigged”.
When Landers noted his own attorney general concluded there was not “measurable voter fraud to change the outcome of the election”, Trump proceeded to call her a “rotten reporter”.
April 26, 2026: “You’re a disgrace”:
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Sitting down for a 60 Minutes interview in the aftermath of a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trump was asked by host Norah O’Donnell for his reaction to the suspect’s alleged manifesto stating: “‘I’m no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”
Trump replied: “I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you’re horrible people. ... Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.”
O’Donnell responded; “Oh, you think- do you think he was referring to you?”
Trump snapped: “I'm not a pedophile. Excuse me. Excuse me. I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person? I got associated with all-- stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated.
“You know, he's a sick person. But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I'm not any of those things.
“You shouldn't be reading that on 60 Minutes. You're a disgrace. “
May 7, 2026: “She’s a horror show”:
People have criticised Trump’s priorities when it comes to the many renovation projects being carried out instead of fixing high gas prices, but when Scott asked why the president was focusing on the building work, he said it was “such a stupid question”.
He continued: “We’re fixing up the Reflecting Pond, to the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and you say, ‘why are you fixing it up?’ Because you can understand dirt, maybe, better than I can, but I don’t allow it.
“This is one of the worst reporters. She’s with ABC fake news and she’s a horror show.”
June 3, 2026: “Corrupt reporter”:
Once again lashing out at Collins, he said: “CNN is a very corrupt organization, with a corrupt reporter standing right there – never smiles.
“She’s a young, beautiful woman, never smiles. I never see a smile off her face, I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes.”
In the very same news conference, Trump told Collins to “be quiet” and said: “You should be ashamed of yourself. You used to be a conservative from Alabama.”
Collins clapped back: “I’m still from Alabama.”
June 7, 2026: “You’re crooked”:
During an interview with Meet the Press, in which host Kristen Welker challenged Trump on his unfounded claims around the 2020 election, Trump said: “They’re crooked, just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked, and Meet the Press is crooked … You’re either crooked or you’re stupid. You play right into their hands with this and you know that these elections are rigged, your network knows that they’re rigged.
“You know that I won an election in a landslide, and I got 94 per cent bad press. You know why I got that? Because you have no credibility.
“There’s more evidence than ever presented. The elections in this country, we’re like a third-world country. The elections are crooked, and you’re crooked, and Meet the Press is crooked, and so is NBC, and CBS and CNN. You’re one-sided, crooked networks. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough.”
He then stormed out of the interview.
July 8, 2026: “Why would you want to work for them?”:
When Ines de La Cuetara from MS NOW, formerly known as MSNBC, identified herself before asking Trump a question at a NATO summit in Turkey, the convicted felon branded her employer a “failing network”.
“Why would you want to work for them? MS NOW, can you imagine? They wanted to get away, they took the name NBC because they were embarrassed by it,“ he said.
August 17, 2026: “You’re a loud, boisterous person”:
After asking Trump in the Oval Office about remarks made by Georgia senator Jon Ossoff at a rally in Atlanta earlier that month, a female reporter attempted to follow-up with a question about the US scaling back military exercises with South Korea.
“Quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet, you’re very disrespectful in front of this young man,” he told the reporter, before turning to 10-year-old Nathaniel Rai on his left. “Don’t you find her disrespectful? He understands. Quiet.”
After learning that the journalist is with CNN, he continued: “Fake news. You’re fake news!
“You’re a loud- you’re a loud, boisterous person, you’re fake news. Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet.
“You’re a fake reporter and you report fake news.”
August 31, 2026: “What a stupid question”:
And in one of the most recent instances of Trump snapping at a female reporter, he criticised what he considered to be a “stupid question” about whether he has ruled out nuclear weapons in Iran.
He said: “Well, I would never say that, but the answer is yes. I ruled that there is no reason for it.
“What a stupid question that is, actually. They’re totally defeated militarily.
“So now I defeat them, and now I should use a nuclear weapon on top of them? What a stupid question.”
indy100 has approached the White House for comment.
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