Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, defended President Donald Trump on Thursday after a video of him telling a reporter to be “Quiet. Quiet, Piggy.” went viral.
Leavitt told reporters the moment showed the president was blunt and open, not rude. She said that frank answers are part of what voters liked about him.
The exchange happened on Friday, November 14, aboard Air Force One when Bloomberg correspondent Catherine Lucey pressed the president about files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Mr. Trump cut her off and pointed at her.
Leavitt said the outburst was evidence of candor. “Look, the president is very frank & honest with everyone in this room,” she said. “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 added that the president reacts when he sees what he calls false reports. “He calls out fake news when he sees it. He gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him, when you spread fake news about him and his administration,” she continued. “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. You are in the Oval Office almost every day, asking the president questions.”
“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,” Leavitt said. “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 White House had earlier pushed back in a statement to PEOPLE, saying, “This reporter behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way towards her colleagues on the plane.” The statement added, “If you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take.” The White House did not say what Lucey had done that was inappropriate.
News organizations and many on social media pushed back. Bloomberg said its journalists do a public service by asking hard questions and must be allowed to do that.
A few days after the Air Force One exchange, the president had another tense run in with a woman reporter during a White House event with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. That moment added fuel to a wider debate about how this administration treats the press.
Reactions on X came in fast and fierce. The posts we include here capture the mood, from eye rolling to outright outrage.
trump insulting a reporter's appearance makes him transparent and frank pic.twitter.com/7jWPSpnB7b
— sarah 💋 (@cherrygirliex) November 20, 2025
Trump could kill three innocent people in cold blood right in front of Karoline Leavitt & she would still find a way to crap on the victims to defend him.
— Sha Hartley (@shahartley) November 20, 2025
🔥
Trump calls a woman “piggy”
and his people spin it like he’s some noble truth-teller.Wild how the “alpha male” melts down the second a woman checks him.
Same guy who bows to dictators and bullies the weak.If this is “honesty”…
why does it smell like insecurity?— Dr. Adrian Wolfe 🇺🇸 (@Dr_ONE1111) November 20, 2025
defending a MISOGYNISTIC man AS A WOMAN is fckin INSANE pic.twitter.com/L8On4AYUWi
— Lana Del Rey • Spotify Daily (@offtothealex) November 20, 2025
she should be ashamed being a woman herself defending that behavior pic.twitter.com/hOxVDTtYoK
— Eren 👾 (@erenfromtargets) November 20, 2025
reporters should consider themselves morally obligated to start being “frank” with everyone in this administration, then
— ashley ❤️🔥 (@kidonherown) November 20, 2025
Featured image via Youtube screengrab
