{"id":14778,"date":"2025-11-21T04:19:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T04:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=14778"},"modified":"2025-11-21T04:19:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T04:19:29","slug":"white-house-defends-trumps-piggy-insult-as-evidence-of-his-respectful-candor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=14778","title":{"rendered":"White House Defends Trump’s ‘Piggy’ Insult as Evidence of His ‘Respectful’ Candor"},"content":{"rendered":"

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday delivered a forceful defense of President Donald Trump’s viral insult of a female reporter, arguing that his bluntness is one of the reasons the American people re-elected him and is a form of respect.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Leavitt was asked during her briefing about a video clip, recorded on Friday, Nov.<\/span><\/span> 14, aboard Air Force One, where the president snaps “Quiet.<\/span><\/span> Quiet, Piggy” at Bloomberg correspondent Catherine Lucey.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The incident occurred after Lucey began a follow-up question about the Epstein files, asking, “Sir, if there’s nothing incriminating in the files…” before being cut off by the President.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Leavitt framed the startling exchange as an example of Trump’s signature candid nature.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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“Look, the president is very frank and honest with everyone in this room,” Leavitt stated, addressing the press corps.<\/span><\/span>“You’ve all seen it yourselves. You’ve all experienced it yourselves. And I think it’s one of the many reasons the American people reelected this president, because of his frankness.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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She went on to suggest that the President’s outbursts are a response to perceived bias.<\/span><\/p>\n

“He calls out fake news when he sees it.<\/span><\/span> He gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him, when you spread fake news about him and his administration,” she continued.<\/span><\/span> “But he is also the most transparent president in history, and he gives all of you in this room… unprecedented access.<\/span><\/span> You are in the Oval Office almost every day, asking the president questions.”<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The press secretary then directly contrasted Trump’s style with his predecessor’s, claiming Trump’s frankness is a mark of respect.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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“And so I think the president being frank and open and honest to your faces, rather than hiding behind your backs, is frankly a lot more respectful than what you saw in the last administration, where you had a president who would lie to your face and then didn’t speak to you for weeks,” Leavitt argued.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I think everyone in this room should appreciate the frankness and the openness that you get from President Trump on a near-daily basis.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Leavitt’s statement follows a White House defense to PEOPLE one day earlier, which laid the blame for the confrontation on the journalist.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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An official’s statement asserts, without offering any clarity, that \u201cThis reporter behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way towards her colleagues on the plane,\u201d adding the phrase: \u201cIf you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The “Piggy” comment is part of a pattern of recent tense encounters between the President and female journalists.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Days after the Air Force One incident, Trump had another high-profile clash in the Oval Office during a joint press conference with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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When ABC’s Mary Bruce asked a question about the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, followed by a question on the Epstein files, the President angrily scolded the press for “embarrassing our guest.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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He then lashed out at Bruce, saying, “People are wise to your hoax.<\/span><\/span>ABC, your company, your crappy company is one of the offenders.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Trump went on to suggest that the company’s license should be revoked due to its “fake” coverage.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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“But I think the way you asked a question with the anger and the meaning is terrible. You ought to go back and learn how to be a reporter. <\/span>No more questions from you,” he concluded, singing out Bruce.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday delivered a forceful defense of President Donald Trump’s viral insult of a female reporter, arguing that his bluntness is one of the reasons the American people re-elected him and is a form of respect. Leavitt was asked during her briefing about a video clip, recorded on Friday,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}