White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered a wild defense of President Donald Trump after he snapped at a female reporter and said, “quiet, piggy!”
Trump was captured on video angrily shushing a reporter during a gaggle on Air Force One with “quiet, quiet, piggy” as she attempted to ask him about the Epstein files.
The press secretary was asked in her briefing on Thursday what exactly the president, 79, meant by “piggy” and gave a bonkers response.
“The president is very frank and honest with everyone in the room,’ Leavitt claimed.
She argued the president’s “frankness” is “one of the many reasons that the American people reelected this president.”
Leavitt did not specifically address the word “piggy” and how it was “frank and honest,” but praised him, calling out what she called the fake news.
“He gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him, when you spread fake news about him and his administration, but he also is the most transparent president in history,” Leavitt declared.
She argued to the room of reporters that 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 lied to your face and didn’t speak to you for weeks.”
Trump lashing out at the female reporter from Bloomberg News, Catherine Lucey, as “piggy,” was not the first time he has used the word to insult a woman.
Trump once called Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who won the pageant in 1996, “Miss Piggy” and told her to lose weight. He owned the pageant at the time.
Trump has also described television personality Rosie O’Donnell at times as a “fat pig,” “slob,” and “animal.”
The president’s outburst at Lucey as “piggy” quickly drew widespread outrage.
She had been attempting to ask a question about the Epstein files after the president had raged about them online numerous times and pushed back on them being released for months.
“If there’s nothing incriminating in the files, sir, why not—” Lucey started before the president cut her off, barking “quiet, quiet piggy” while pointing his finger at her.
The White House attempted to defend the president’s outburst to the Daily Beast.
“This reporter behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way toward her colleagues on the plane. If you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take,” a White House official said.
Trump has repeatedly clashed with reporters but has been particularly nasty to female reporters who attempt to ask him tough questions about his actions and policies.
On Tuesday, Trump berated another female reporter who pressed him on the release of the Epstein files.
“You know, it’s not the question that I mind, it’s your attitude,” Trump told ABC News’ Mary Bruce after she asked him why he didn’t just release the documents “now.”
“I think you are a terrible reporter,” Trump complained. “It’s the way you ask these questions. You start off with a man who is highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate, and just a terrible question.”
Trump ranted that there was a way she could ask her question “nicely” and called her a “terrible person and a terrible reporter.”
The post Leavitt’s Bonkers Explanation for Trump’s ‘Piggy’ Insult appeared first on The Daily Beast.
