White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has claimed that Donald Trump’s insult to a reporter was actually ‘respectful’.
Leavitt defended Trump’s comment
Leavitt addressed the viral moment where Trump was asked by Bloomberg correspondent Catherine Lucey about the Epstein files on November 14.
Trump told Lucey he had a ‘bad relationship’ with Epstein, which prompted the reporter to ask, “Sir, if there’s nothing incriminating in the files…”
He then called her ‘piggy’
Trump immediately cut Lucey off, and harshly said, “Quiet. Quiet, Piggy,” before he moved on to another question, per The Guardian.
Now, in a press briefing on Thursday, November 20, Leavitt has defended Trump’s remark.
She said he was being ‘respectful’
Leavitt addressed the moment which received condemnation from critics, saying that it was Trump’s way of being ‘respectful’.
She said, “Look, the president is very frank & honest with everyone in this room.”
Leavitt said it’s his way of being ‘frank’
“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,” she continued.
“He calls out fake news when he sees it,” she went on about Trump.
She implied reporters were lying about him
“He gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him, when you spread fake news about him and his administration,” Leavitt went on.
“But he also is the most transparent president in history, and he gives all of you in this room, as you all know, unprecedented access.”
She said he’s ‘being honest’
“You are in the Oval Office almost every day, asking the president questions,” Leavitt continued.
“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.”
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Leavitt asked reporters to ‘appreciate’ it
“I think everyone in this room should appreciate the frankness and the openness that you get from President Trump on a near-daily basis,” the press secretary concluded.
This came only a day after the White House said that Lucey’s question was ‘inappropriate’.
They issued a statement about it
According to People, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday, November 19, “This reporter behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way towards her colleagues on the plane.”
“If you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take it,” they added, without explaining why it had been deemed inappropriate.
