‘Quiet, piggy’—Enraged Donald Trump shuts down female reporter for asking him about Epstein files | Watch video

US President Donald Trump, infamous for his personal attacks on female journalists, has done it again — this time, he shut down a Bloomberg News correspondent with “Quite, Piggy” after she asked him about the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Trump had made the remark during a clash on board Air Force One on Friday; however, it wasn't until Tuesday that it caught attention and drew backlash from fellow journalists.

‘Quiet, piggy’: Trump

During a question-and-answer session, Catherine Lucey, Bloomberg’s White House correspondent, asked Trump about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and the possibility of the House voting to release all of the Epstein files.

She hit a nerve when she asked Trump why he was behaving the way he was, “if there’s nothing incriminating in the files”.

Trump then pointed at her and said, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy.”

Watch video here:

Bloomberg News has issued a comment on Trump referring to Lucey as “piggy” and said, “Our White House journalists perform a vital public service, asking questions without fear or favour.” “We remain focused on reporting issues of public interest fairly and accurately,” they added.

History of ‘Miss Piggy’

‘Miss Piggy’ is a familiar insult for Trump.

Trump once called Alicia Machado, who won the Miss Universe pageant in 1996, “Miss Piggy” and told her to lose weight. Trump owned the pageant at the time.

April Ryan, a longtime White House correspondent, was also referred to as “Miss Piggy” by Trump administration official Lynne Patton in 2018 – though Patton apologised for the remark.

Trump himself called Ryan a “loser” who “doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing” that same year.

‘Terrible reporter’: Trump attacks ABC correspondent Mary Bruce

Most recently, on Tuesday, Trump denounced ABC News' Mary Bruce as a “terrible reporter” and threatened the network's license to broadcast after she asked him about his family's business operations in Saudi Arabia, the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and the Jeffrey Epstein files.

After asking Bruce who she worked for, Trump called ABC “fake news”. He then criticised her for asking Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a “horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question.”

On the Epstein files query, Trump said, “It's not the question that I mind, it's your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It's the way you ask these questions.”

After addressing the Epstein question, he returned to Bruce, saying that “people are wise to your hoax.”

“I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and it's so wrong,” he said.

(With agency inputs)