US President Donald Trump directed a personal insult at a female journalist outside the White House on Tuesday afternoon, calling her a 'dumb person' when challenged overtaxpayer-funded renovations to his presidential ballroom. The exchange, caught on camera as reporters pressed him on spiralling costs, has reignited scrutiny of his treatment of women in the press.
The confrontation, which occurred shortly before the 79-year-old departed Washington for Beijing, marks the latest in a documented pattern of the president aiming personal attacks at women in the media who question his administration's spending and economic policies.
Akayla Gardner, a White House correspondent for MS NOW,initiatedthe exchange by asking Trump about the rising cost of his ballroom and reflecting pool project. The renovations are projected to cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. Gardner drew a comparison to the Federal Reserve's headquarters upgrade, noting the president's previous calls to dismiss Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over similar cost overruns.
'How is that different than your ballroom and the reflecting pool?' Gardner asked.
Trump defended the project's finances, asserting that construction was advancing efficiently. 'What happened is that we have a ballroom that's under budget. It's going up right here,' he said. 'I've doubled the size of it because we obviously need that. And we're right now on budget, under budget and ahead of schedule.'
When Gardner interjected to point out that 'the price has doubled', the president swiftly cut her off. According to footage of the press gaggle, Trump appeared to hunch down to her eye level before delivering a direct insult, using phrasing he has frequently directed at Black individuals in public life.
'I doubled the size of it you dumb person! Doubled the size,' he said. 'You are not a smart person.'
Following the incident, the official White House Rapid Response account on X posted a clip of the altercation. The page celebrated the response, referring to Gardner as 'fake news'.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson later released a statement denying that the president's remarks were motivated by the correspondent's gender. Jackson framed the outburst as a reflection of the political approach that secured his re-election.
'President Trump has never been politically correct, never holds back, and in large part, the American people re-elected him for his transparency,' Jackson said. 'This has nothing to do with gender – it has everything to do with the fact that the President's and the public's trust in the media is at all-time lows.'
Source: International Business Times UK
