President Donald Trump escalated his war with the press, snapping “quiet, piggy” at a female reporter who attempted to ask about the Jeffrey Epstein files during a gaggle aboard Air Force One.
The remark, captured on a White House–released video, shows Trump turning toward an off-camera female reporter and saying, “quiet, quiet piggy,” while waving a finger in her direction.
CBS News’ Jennifer Jacobs later identified the reporter as being from Bloomberg.
‘Pig’ is sometimes used to imply a woman is unattractive or bothersome. The diminutive “piggy” makes it sound even more infantilizing. It fits in with Trump’s previous gendered insults of women. Trump has variously described television personality Rosie O’Donnell as a “fat pig,” “slob,” and “animal.”
Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who won the title aged 19 while Trump co-owned the organization, has also described how he would aggressively bark at her, sometimes calling her “Miss Piggy.”
“He was overwhelming, I was so scared of him,” Machado said during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. “He’d yell at me all the time. He’d tell me, ‘You look ugly,’ or ‘You look fat,’ Sometimes he’d play with me and say, ‘Hello, Miss Piggy.’”
The Nov. 14 outburst capped several days of testy exchanges over the Epstein files, a subject Trump has tried—and failed—to dodge as pressure intensifies on his administration to release them. Over the weekend, he repeatedly pushed back on reporters’ questions, even as he publicly shifted positions in real time.
On Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social that House Republicans should vote to release the files, declaring, “we have nothing to hide” and calling the matter “this Democrat Hoax.” The House is scheduled to vote on Tuesday on whether to release all unclassified documents tied to the Epstein investigation. If the measure clears the Senate, it will land on Trump’s desk.
By Monday, he said he would sign it. Speaking from the Oval Office, he insisted, “We’ll give them everything. Sure. I would let them, let the Senate look at it, let anybody look at it, but don’t talk about it too much, because honestly, I don’t want to take it away from us. It’s really a Democrat problem. The Democrats were Epstein’s friends, all of them, and it’s a hoax.”
On Sunday, at Palm Beach International Airport, a journalist pressed him about Rep. Thomas Massie’s suggestion that a Justice Department probe using the files was merely a White House “smokescreen” to avoid full transparency.
Trump bit back. “Well, I don’t want to talk about it because fake news like you—you’re a terrible reporter—they just keep bringing that up to deflect from the tremendous success of the Trump administration.”
Minutes later, he flared again. Asked about Tucker Carlson’s controversial interview with far-right podcaster Nick Fuentes, Trump snapped at an interrupting reporter. “Will you let me finish my statement? You are the worst—you’re with Bloomberg, right? You are the worst, I don’t even know why they have you.”
The identity of the reporter remains unconfirmed. Mediaite noted it may have been former Bloomberg journalist Jennifer Jacobs, now CBS News’ senior White House reporter.
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