Lara Trump has questioned whether her father-in-law, President Donald Trump, called a journalist “piggy” despite a recording of the incident being posted by his administration.
The president had been speaking to reporters on November 14 when Bloomberg White House correspondent Catherine Lucey asked him a question about the Epstein files.
“Quiet, quiet, piggy,” he said, seen in the footage of the gaggle on Air Force One released by the White House.
Despite the evidence, former Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, 43, denied it was definitely what he’d said during an appearance on Club Random with Bill Maher.
Maher said he was writing an editorial touching on political division. He planned to say it was “mostly liberals” who needed to “get over yourselves” and eat dinner with family, no matter their political views.
But Trump’s actions, like the “piggy” outburst, made it harder for him to justify that argument, the 69-year-old said. “Don’t do things like call a woman, ‘piggy.’”
Eric Trump’s wife replied, “Do we know that happened?”
“I saw it on tape a thousand—” Maher said, before Trump cut him off.
“Or did he say, ‘McGee?’”
The My View With Lara Trump host’s comment drew laughter from them both, but her father-in-law’s comment drew the ire of political commentators.
It was admonished as “disgusting and degrading” by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson. Meanwhile, Society of Professional Journalists executive director Caroline Hendrie slammed the president’s words.
“Nobody expects presidents to be reporters’ biggest fans,” she said in a statement released by the SPJ. “But targeting women reporters with humiliating insults should not be tolerated.”
Trump has a track record when it comes to using the word in relation to women.
Miss Universe 1996 winner Alicia Machado alleged she was once called “Miss Piggy” by Trump. He owned the pageant at the time.
His administration has defended his comment on Air Force One.
“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,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters following the incident. “And I think it is one of the many reasons the American people reelected this president, because of his frankness. And he calls out fake news.”
During the show, Maher made clear he didn’t see it that way. He said he felt Trump’s language made it hard for the two sides of the partisan divide to see eye to eye.
“I’m just saying, on a personal level, here I am working on this editorial for Friday all about how it’s mostly liberals who have to like get over yourselves, eat with your family, even the ones who were Trump voters,” he said when Lara Trump interjected. “Even the Trump voters.”
“Even the Trump voters,” Maher continued. “It just makes my job more difficult when, during this week, he says to a woman, ‘Piggy.’ I mean, even you must admit this is just not cool, not necessary.”
The Grio’s White House corresponden,t April Rya,n went a step further, telling The Guardian, “The president of the United States is supposed to be the moral leader, the leader of the country, and he’s acting like some thug on the street. It’s one thing for his minions to say that, but for him to call a woman that? That also shows how upset he is about the Epstein files. It lets us know that there’s probably some fire there.”
Trump has come under near-unrelenting pressure during his second term over releasing files from the investigation into the deceased child trafficker. Last week, a bill flew through both chambers of Congress after he finally caved to that pressure and reissued his support for their release following months of evasive maneuvers.
The Justice Department is now expected to release the documents within 30 days of Tuesday’s passage.
A trickle of releases has painted a picture of the two men’s once-close relationship, but Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
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