Which interview or event prompted Donald Trump to call a journalist 'piggy' and when did it happen?
Executive summary
Multiple news outlets say President Donald Trump called a female reporter “piggy” during a press exchange aboard Air Force One on Nov. 14, 2025, when Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey pressed him about Jeffrey Epstein files; the remark drew widespread media attention and a White House defense from press secretary Karoline Leavitt [1] [2] [3]. Reporting identifies the setting as a press gaggle on Air Force One en route to Palm Beach and quotes Trump saying “Quiet. Quiet, piggy” while pointing at the reporter [4] [1] [3].
1. What happened, and when — the basic facts
Video and multiple news accounts place the exchange on Nov. 14, 2025, aboard Air Force One during a press gaggle: when Bloomberg White House correspondent Catherine Lucey asked about the release of Justice Department files linked to Jeffrey Epstein, Trump interrupted, pointed, and said, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy,” which then spread widely online [1] [3] [4].
2. Who was targeted — identification and reporting
News reports identify the reporter as Catherine Lucey of Bloomberg [2] [1] [5]. Some early accounts cited a generic “female reporter” or did not name her, but follow-on coverage and clips attributed the remark specifically to Lucey as she attempted to ask a follow-up about the Epstein files [4] [5].
3. Context of the question that prompted the comment
Reporting says Lucey was pursuing follow-up questioning about recently released material and whether there was anything incriminating in the Epstein-related documents; that line of questioning prompted Trump’s interruption and the “piggy” label [4] [5] [3].
4. How the White House and allies responded
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt publicly defended the president’s language, framing it as evidence of Trump being “frank and open” with reporters and arguing reporters should “appreciate the frankness and the openness” of his daily engagement with the press [2] [6] [7]. Conservative outlets amplified Leavitt’s remarks and portrayed the exchange as normal pushback against “fake news” [8] [7].
5. How mainstream and independent outlets covered it
Mainstream outlets including BBC, Reuters, NBC News, CNN, CBS, The Guardian and others reported the clip and quoted the phrase directly, while editorial and opinion pieces used the incident to discuss a pattern of personal insults from Trump toward female journalists [3] [2] [1] [9] [10] [4]. Opinion pages framed the remark as part of broader critiques of the president’s rhetoric toward the press [11] [12].
6. Diverging perspectives and the political lens
Coverage diverged along predictable lines: critics and many mainstream outlets described the comment as demeaning and symptomatic of a hostile relationship with journalists, particularly women [4] [12]. The White House and sympathetic outlets defended or downplayed the insult as terse pushback and evidence of direct engagement with the press [2] [7] [8]. Both frames are present in the reporting cited [2] [4].
7. Why the incident drew heightened attention
Reporters and commentators noted the clip went viral and was emblematic of a string of recent personal attacks by the president against women in the press, which intensified scrutiny because it appeared on a federal aircraft and during routine presidential interactions with reporters [4] [12] [10]. The episode also intersected with a larger story about demands to release Epstein-related files, raising stakes beyond a simple spat [3] [5].
8. What the sources do not say or resolve
Available sources do not mention any formal disciplinary action, an official apology from the president, or whether the White House provided additional internal context beyond Leavitt’s public defense (not found in current reporting). They also do not provide a verbatim minute-by-minute transcript beyond the quoted exchange, nor do they uniformly identify every journalist present who did or did not intervene on camera [4] [3].
9. Bottom line for readers
Contemporary reporting consistently dates the “piggy” remark to Nov. 14, 2025, aboard Air Force One and identifies Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey as the reporter involved; the White House defended the comment while many outlets saw it as part of a pattern of demeaning treatment of female journalists [1] [2] [4]. Readers should note the clear divergence in interpretation between the White House’s framing and critics’ portrayal, and that follow-up details beyond the public remark are not covered in the cited reporting [2] [4] [5].