President Donald Trump shouted “Quiet!” at an NBC News reporter and called her a “horrible little reporter” as she pressed him about sexual abuse allegations.
Trump made the remarks while taking questions from reporters outside the White House on Friday morning. Much of the questioning focused on a Republican attack ad aimed at Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee for Ohio governor.
Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign confirmed it produced the ad, which features Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter “a liar,” the Associated Press reported.
The campaign said it will spend $4 million to promote it.
“If you know the backstory about Amy Acton and her stepfather and why she hasn’t talked to her mom for so long — her stepfather was indicted for rape,” one reporter told Trump. “Now that you know all that, sir, do you change your mind about the ad?”
“No. It’s a mother speaking badly against Amy Acton,” Trump replied.
“But her mother stood by [her husband] after he had raped her,” the reporter said.
“You don’t know that. You don’t know that. You don’t know anything. Her mother stood by, didn’t stand by,” Trump fired back.
Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was arrested and indicted in 1978 on a charge of raping her when she was younger than 13, according to court records her campaign provided to the AP.
Her brother, Philip Stearns, said in a statement released by Acton’s campaign that their mother “stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died.” The couple left Ohio without facing the charges, CBS News reported.
“Can I be honest? You shouldn’t even be… You’re… The press is embarrassing themselves,” Trump told the reporters as the questioning went on.
“But do the sexual abuse allegations make no difference to you, sir?” another reporter asked.
“Wait. If my… Wait. Wait. Wait!” Trump said as she repeated the question. “Slow down! Who are you with? Who are you with?”
“I’m with NBC, sir,” the reporter said.
“One of the worst networks you have,” the president shot back.
“But there are very serious sexual abuse allegations,” she said.
“Quiet!” Trump said.
“Isn’t she a fresh person? You’re a horrible little reporter, aren’t you?” Trump said after she asked a third time whether the allegations made any difference to him.
“If my mother said bad things about me, do you think the Democrats would put it up? I think so. But my mother thought I was wonderful,” Trump went on.
“Thank you, Mom,” he added. “My mother would never… Even if she thought them, she would never say.”
“Miss NBC, why wouldn’t you listen?” Trump asked moments later, after calling Acton’s mother “a smart woman.”
“She stayed with the stepfather!” the reporter replied.
“Wait a minute! Quiet! You have a… I don’t know anything about a stepfather. She just keeps talking,” Trump said.
“He raped his stepdaughter in 1978, sir,” the reporter said.
“You just keep talking…” Trump said.
“I’m answering you, sir,” she responded.
“I don’t know anything about stepfathers from many, many years ago,” Trump said.
“To me, that’s something that’s very much fair game,” he said of the mother’s attack on her daughter.
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