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Have Trump or his spokespeople publicly addressed or denied the 'piggy' allegation?
Executive summary
Multiple news outlets and fact-checkers report that President Trump said “Quiet, piggy” to a female reporter during a press gaggle on Air Force One while she asked about the Jeffrey Epstein files; outlets attribute the reporter to Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey and cite video of the exchange [1] [2] [3] [4]. The White House did not deny the wording and a White House official defended the president’s conduct, saying the reporter had behaved “in an inappropriate and unprofessional way” and adding “If you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take [it]” [4] [5].
1. What was said, who reported it, and where the record exists
Two widely cited clips and contemporaneous reporting show Trump interrupting a female reporter and saying “Quiet. Quiet, piggy” during a Nov. 14 press gaggle about the release of Epstein-related documents; Deadline, People, The Guardian and others published accounts tied to the video [2] [3] [1]. Snopes notes the exchange and indicates the full video is available on the White House YouTube page; it also records that a White House official did not deny the wording [4].
2. Did Trump or his spokespeople deny the allegation?
Available reporting does not show the president issuing a personal denial such as “I did not say that”; instead, the White House response quoted in multiple outlets defended the remark and characterized the reporter’s behavior as inappropriate, without disputing the words were spoken [4] [5]. In short: outlets report a White House defense rather than a categorical denial [4] [5].
3. How the White House framed the exchange — a defensive posture
The White House line reproduced by Snopes and other outlets framed the incident as justified pushback: a White House official told reporters that the journalist had acted “in an inappropriate and unprofessional way” and added the phrase “If you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take [it],” which implicitly accepted that the remark occurred while arguing the reporter deserved it [4] [5].
4. Media and public reaction: condemnation and viral spread
News organizations report the clip went viral and drew sharp criticism from fellow journalists and public figures; CNN’s Jake Tapper called the behavior “disgusting and completely unacceptable,” and social media quickly turned the phrase into memes and political taunts — coverage ranges from straight news to opinion pieces excoriating the president’s treatment of female reporters [6] [7] [8].
5. Identity of the reporter and why outlets say Bloomberg
Multiple outlets identified the journalist as Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey; CBS reporter Jennifer Jacobs tweeted contemporaneously that the woman was from Bloomberg, and several outlets repeated that attribution [3] [2] [1]. Some coverage notes the exchange occurred while Lucey or a Bloomberg correspondent was asking about potentially incriminating material in the newly released Epstein files [2] [3].
6. Fact‑checking and what remains open
Snopes’ summary documents the clip, the White House comment, and the availability of video — and reports that a White House official did not deny the words [4]. Available sources do not mention a transcriptal retraction by the White House or an on-the-record statement from the president explicitly denying the phrase, nor do they show Trump apologizing [4] [5].
7. Competing narratives and implicit agendas to note
News outlets hostile to the president frame the remark as part of a pattern of demeaning treatment of women in media, citing past incidents; outlets closer to the administration recount the White House defense and highlight the reporter’s alleged interruption [1] [5]. The White House’s quoted defense serves both to justify the behavior and to shift scrutiny back to the reporter’s conduct [4] [5].
8. Quick takeaways for readers
Published video and mainstream reporting document the “Quiet, piggy” phrase; the White House defended the president’s reaction rather than denying the wording; and no on‑record presidential denial or apology appears in the covered reporting [2] [4] [5]. For further precision, consult the posted full video clip noted by Snopes and the reporting that attributes the on‑plane exchange to Nov. 14 [4] [2].