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Video footage from a November 14, 2025, press gaggle aboard Air Force One shows President Donald Trump responding to a follow-up question about the Jeffrey Epstein files by telling the reporter “Quiet! Quiet, piggy” while pointing his finger, according to reports from USA Today and The Telegraph. Bloomberg correspondent Catherine Lucey had asked why Trump would not order the release of the files himself if they contained nothing incriminating about him after the president stated that he knew nothing about Epstein’s comment regarding knowing about the girls and that he had a very bad relationship with the late financier for many years. The White House later defended the remark in statements to Lead Stories and the Sydney Morning Herald, with an official claiming Lucey had behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way toward her colleagues on the plane.
Lucey persisted with her line of inquiry during the informal briefing as Trump moved on to call on CBS News reporter Jennifer Jacobs for the next question, Newsweek reported. On the tarmac at West Palm Beach Airport later that day, Trump again singled out Lucey, telling her that Bloomberg should fire her and describing her as the worst, The Telegraph added. The exchange came amid congressional pressure to release additional government documents on Epstein, a topic Trump had previously called a Democrat hoax before indicating he would support legislation to make the files public.
A separate incident unfolded in the Oval Office on August 18, 2026, when CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes attempted to ask a follow-up question about Trump’s decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, USA Today reported. Trump responded by saying “Quiet, quiet, quiet” several times, told Holmes she was very disrespectful in front of a 10-year-old boy who was present for the event, and labeled both her and CNN as fake news while the two spoke over each other. Holmes had inquired whether North Korean leader Kim Jong Un specifically asked Trump to reduce those exercises, according to the video footage reviewed by the publication.
The BBC compiled clips from these and earlier moments in a video report exploring the circumstances that lead Trump to shut down reporters. Trump has frequently told journalists to be quiet when he objects to the tone or persistence of their questions, a pattern that dates to his first term when he clashed with PBS NewsHour correspondent Yamiche Alcindor over what he called nasty questions, The Guardian noted in its coverage of the latest episodes. In one exchange earlier this year, he walked off the set of an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker, USA Today added.
White House communications staff shared an alternative clip from the August Oval Office gaggle on X that tagged Holmes, according to USA Today. Trump turned to the child at the event and asked whether he found the reporter disrespectful before continuing with his point on the South Korea policy shift. The episodes have circulated widely online, prompting divided reactions that range from criticism of the president’s tone to defenses that the reporters interrupted the flow of the briefings.
Trump’s history with the press includes calling outlets fake news on dozens of occasions and at times suggesting licenses should be revoked, as he did with ABC News after a tense exchange with correspondent Mary Bruce over the Epstein matter and the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, The Guardian reported. In that case, he told Bruce she was a terrible reporter and that it was the way she asked questions. Bloomberg did not immediately comment on the November incident involving Lucey, while the White House maintained its position that reporters must adhere to professional standards during such interactions.
