President Donald Trump escalated his attacks on the media on Tuesday, Nov. 18, lashing out at an ABC News journalist and suggesting the network’s broadcast license should be revoked after she asked about Jeffrey Epstein.
The confrontation unfolded during a press conference at the White House with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, when ABC’s chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce pressed Trump on the Epstein files.
“People are wise to your hoax,” Trump, 79, shot back at Bruce. “ABC, your company, your crappy company is one of the perpetrators. And I’ll tell you something, I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and is so wrong. And we have a great commissioner, a chairman, who should look at that.”
He went on to complain about the network’s coverage of him, arguing that negative stories undermine the outlet’s credibility.
“I think when you come in, and when you’re 97% negative to Trump, and then Trump wins the election in a landslide, that means obviously your news is not credible,” he said. “And you’re not credible as a reporter, so I’ve answered your question. You should go and look at the Democrats who received money from Epstein.”
Trump also accused ABC of favoring liberals, telling Bruce, “You’re not after the radical left because you’re a radical left network. But I think the way you ask a question with the anger and the meanness is terrible. You ought to go back and learn how to be a reporter. No more questions from you.”
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The exchange came just days after another heated moment over the same topic. On Friday, Nov. 14, Trump was asked about the Epstein files aboard Air Force One as he flew from Washington, D.C., to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Earlier that week, the House Oversight Committee had released multiple emails in which Epstein referred to Trump by name, including one message claiming Trump “knew about the girls” and had “asked ghislaine [Maxwell] to stop.”
“I know nothing about that. They would have announced that a long time ago,” Trump told reporters, adding, “Jeffrey Epstein and I had a very bad relationship for many years.”
When an off-camera female journalist, later identified as a Bloomberg reporter, began to ask whether there was anything “incriminating” in the Epstein emails, Trump pointed at her and snapped, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy.”
The president has repeatedly bristled at questions tied to Epstein or other far-right figures in recent days. Two days after the “piggy” remark, he grew irritated when a reporter asked about Tucker Carlson’s interview with far-right podcaster Nick Fuentes.
“Well, I found him to be good. I mean, he’s said good things about me over the years. He’s, I think he’s good,” Trump said of Carlson, a former Fox News host. “We’ve had some good interviews. I did an interview with him where we had 300 million hits.”
When the reporter tried to interject while he was still speaking, Trump cut them off. “Will you let me finish my statement? You are the worst,” he said, before asking, “You’re with Bloomberg, right? You are the worst. I don’t know why they even have you.”
Trump’s comments about ABC on Tuesday also came on the heels of his latest attack on late-night host Seth Meyers.
“NBC’s Seth Meyers is suffering from an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS),” the president wrote on Truth Social on Saturday, Nov. 15.
“He was viewed last night in an uncontrollable rage, likely due to the fact that his ‘show’ is a Ratings DISASTER,” Trump continued. “Aside from everything else, Meyers has no talent, and NBC should fire him, IMMEDIATELY!”
Roughly half an hour later, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr shared a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post on X, without adding any further comment.
