President Donald Trump escalated his criticism of female members of the press on Wednesday morning, taking aim at a New York Times reporter after she co wrote a story claiming the seventy nine year old President has been showing signs of exhaustion since returning to office in January.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump described the Times as a failing outlet and accused its reporters of creating a false narrative about his energy levels. He singled out journalist Katie Rogers, calling her “a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out” and claiming she is assigned solely to write negative coverage about him.
Trump’s remarks followed a Times article published one day earlier which stated that he has significantly reduced his number of public appearances and is traveling less within the United States than he did during his first year in office in 2017.
The report also referenced an event earlier this month in which Trump appeared to drift in and out of alertness for a few seconds.
Trump did not mention Dylan Freeman, the second reporter credited on the story.
His comments toward Rogers add to a series of recent confrontations with female journalists.
Earlier this month on Air Force One, Trump interrupted Catherine Lucey of Bloomberg News by saying “Quiet, piggy” when she questioned him about files connected to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Later in November, during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump publicly criticized Mary Bruce of ABC News after she asked the prince why Americans should trust him following the CIA’s conclusion that he approved the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Bin Salman responded that the incident was “painful” and “a huge mistake” and that efforts were being made to prevent similar events in the future.
Despite the CIA’s findings, Trump insisted that the crown prince “knew nothing about it” and told Bruce that her question was unnecessary and disrespectful to a visiting leader.
He labeled her inquiry as “horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question,” repeating this characterization multiple times.