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Was Trump's 'piggy' comment reported by major news organizations and what evidence exists?
Executive summary
Major news organizations widely reported that President Donald Trump told a female reporter “Quiet, quiet, piggy” during a November 14 gaggle on Air Force One, with video released by the White House and contemporaneous accounts from outlets including CNN, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Newsweek, Deadline, The Telegraph and others [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]. Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey has been identified by several outlets as the reporter involved, and CBS’s Jennifer Jacobs first flagged that the questioner was from Bloomberg [2] [4] [7].
1. What was reported and who ran the story
Within hours of the White House posting video of the gaggle, multiple major outlets published accounts and clips describing the exchange in which Trump interrupted a female reporter asking about the Jeffrey Epstein files and said, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy” [1] [2] [4]. Publications that reported the phrase verbatim include CNN, The Guardian, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Deadline, The Telegraph and People [1] [2] [4] [3] [5] [6] [7]. National and international outlets—Euronews, Metro, Global News and more—also ran the video and accounts [8] [9] [10].
2. Primary evidence: video, contemporaneous tweets and reporter attributions
Reporting points to a short White House video of the gaggle as the primary evidence; outlets say the White House posted footage showing the moment Trump cut off the question and used the phrase [5] [4]. CBS reporter Jennifer Jacobs tweeted that the woman who asked the follow-up was from Bloomberg, and several outlets name Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey as the reporter who was addressed, citing Jacobs and on-camera cues [2] [4] [11]. Where articles reproduce the quote, they cite the same video or Jacobs’s social posts as the basis [5] [1].
3. How major outlets framed it and patterns noted
News outlets framed the episode as part of an ongoing pattern in which Trump makes personal attacks on female journalists; The Atlantic and The Guardian explicitly contextualized the line within past incidents and allegations, including references to prior “piggy” taunts reported in earlier coverage [3] [2]. Opinion pieces and commentary used the moment to critique his rapport with the press, while wire and straight-news pieces focused on the visual evidence and attribution [3] [12].
4. Disputes, defensive statements, and gaps in claims
The White House responded to requests for comment by accusing the reporter of unprofessional behavior without providing specific evidence, and The Guardian notes the administration did not substantiate that accusation [8]. Some reporting emphasizes that the exchange took place off-camera (the reporter was “off camera” in many accounts), which created a reliance on the White House video and reporters’ on-the-ground identification rather than an audio transcript released independently [4] [9]. Available sources do not mention any independent audio transcript beyond the White House video clips (not found in current reporting).
5. How authoritative is the evidence — strengths and limits
Strengths: multiple independent news organizations viewed and reported the same White House video and contemporaneous social posts from credentialed reporters like Jennifer Jacobs, producing consistent quotes and attributions [5] [7] [1]. Limits: the key evidence appears to be the White House-released footage and journalists’ on-scene reporting; outlets note the reporter was often off camera when Trump directed the remark, and the White House’s defensive claim about her conduct was unsupported in the reporting [4] [8]. Where the White House posted the footage, outlets treat the clip as the primary source but some context (exact audio clarity, full exchange off-camera) remains dependent on the posted segment [5] [4].
6. Competing narratives and implicit agendas to watch for
News organizations reporting the remark varied in tone: mainstream outlets focused on the factual exchange and identification of the reporter, while opinion writers used it to argue about Trump’s broader behavior toward women and journalists [3] [12]. The White House’s rebuttal attempted to shift blame to the reporter’s behavior, a defensive framing that could serve to deflect criticism; reporting notes the administration did not provide evidence to support that claim [8]. Conversely, outlets critical of Trump highlighted historical examples to suggest a pattern, which bolsters but does not by itself prove intent beyond the recorded words [3].
7. Bottom line for readers
Major news organizations did report the “Quiet, quiet, piggy” comment, basing their accounts on White House-released video and contemporaneous reporting from credentialed journalists who identified the reporter as from Bloomberg [5] [4] [2]. The video and consistent multi-outlet coverage make the attribution and quote widely corroborated; however, gaps remain about off-camera context and the White House’s unsubstantiated counterclaims [8] [4]. Readers should weigh the direct evidence (the posted video and on-scene reporting) against contested explanations offered afterward.