CNN calls attack on Holmes ‘beneath the office’
The White House “rapid response” social media account on Monday posted a clip of the exchange between Holmes and Trump and tagged her by name, calling her a “disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession.” The post accused her of taking a “cheap shot” at a staffer and continued: “These scumbags are the lowest of the low.”
A second White House post directed at Holmes referenced her children: “Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question. They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive. It’s quite troubling.”
Holmes had asked Trump in the Oval Office to respond to remarks Ossoff delivered in a speech on Sunday. Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, told a crowd that Trump “doesn’t want to do the job” and instead “wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.” The comment was an apparent reference to Natalie Harp, the president’s executive assistant, fueling scrutiny of her perceived closeness to Trump.
When Holmes asked Trump to respond, he dismissed her, calling Ossoff a “Pee-wee Herman lookalike.” Trump then turned on Holmes directly, telling her: “Quiet, quiet, quiet. You’re very disrespectful.” After Holmes told him she worked for CNN, Trump responded: “Fake news, you’re fake news, you’re a loud boisterous person. You’re fake news. Be quiet. Be quiet. You’re a fake reporter and you report fake news.” He then talked over her as she tried to continue asking a question.
CNN defended Holmes in a statement, calling her “one of the most respected and accomplished journalists covering the White House.” The network said she had asked Trump “a tough, relevant, and newsworthy question on behalf of the American people” and added that public officials are “free to challenge reporting they disagree with, but personal attacks on journalists for asking questions are beneath the office and inconsistent with the principles of a free press.”
A CNN colleague of Holmes also defended her in comments to The Guardian: “Kristen is an incredible reporter, person and, above all, mother. I don’t understand such a reaction to a journalist asking the president for his response to something a Democratic senator has leveled against him.”
The White House director of communications separately posted insults targeting Ossoff in response to the senator’s speech, writing: “Jon Jackoff has to be the biggest cuck loser in politics.”
Trump has a documented history of aggressively attacking and insulting women in the press corps who ask tough questions. He has previously told a Bloomberg reporter “Quiet, piggy,” called another CNN journalist “corrupt,” and stormed out of NBC’s Meet the Press after calling the moderator “crooked or stupid,” according to The Guardian.