Key Insights
- Recent Incident: President Donald Trump insulted CBS reporter Nancy Cordes during a press conference.
- Vetting Controversy: Trump denied the existence of a vetting process for suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal, despite CIA confirmation.
- Repeated Behavior: This marks the third incident in a month where Trump has insulted female journalists.
- Official Defense: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Trump, citing his honesty as a reason for his re-election.
President Donald Trump continues his trend of insulting female journalists.
The President of the United States’ most recent target was a CBS reporter, Nancy Cordes. After confronting Trump about an attack in Washington DC that killed one National Guard officer, Sarah Beckstrom (20), while severely injuring another, Andrew Wolfe (24), the president retaliated by calling her a “stupid person.”
Authorities revealed that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal (29), traveled to DC from Washington state. He is currently being held in custody and has been charged with several crimes, including first-degree murder, according to U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro.
The conflict was triggered by Cordes inquiring about Lakanwal, who formerly worked with the CIA in Afghanistan, during a press conference. “U.S. officials say the suspect worked very closely with the CIA in Afghanistan for years and he was vetted and the vetting came up clean.”
Despite her statement being confirmed by John Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA, in an earlier statement, Trump claimed that there was no such vetting process. He added, “He went nuts and that happens, too. It happens too often with these people. We have a lot of others in this country, and we’re going to get them out. But they go cuckoo. Something happens to them.“
Cordes pushed back against his comments, declaring them untrue and reminding him how his own people even confirmed there was a thorough vetting process. She asked, “Your DOJ IG just reported this year that there was thorough vetting by DHS and by the FBI of these Afghans who were brought into the U.S., so why do you blame the Biden administration?”
That was when he snapped at her. The president aggressively responded by saying, “Because they let ’em in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?” Trump fired back. Because they came in on a plane along with thousands of other people that shouldn’t be here, and you’re just asking questions because you’re a stupid person.“
This is the third incident in under a month when Trump insulted a female reporter. Last week, he pointed at Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey and called her “piggy” while telling her to be “quiet.” And, just days ago, he called The New York Times’ Katie Rogers “ugly, both inside and out.”
After both incidents, the White House’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, doubled down and defended President Trump. She claimed that his honesty was why he was re-elected in the first place. “Look, the president is very frank and honest with everyone in this room. You’ve all seen it yourselves. You’ve all experienced it yourselves. And I think it’s one of the many reasons the American people re-elected this president because of his frankness,” she said in a statement.
