Two issues triggered Trump's Sunday night press lashing: analysis
President Donald Trump lashed out at reporters Sunday night after they questioned him on two sensitive issues—release of the files on late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson's interview with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes, HuffPost reports.
Trump "raged against reporters during a media Q&A as he arrived back in the Washington area after a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida," they report.
The president got triggered after being questioned about the comments by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who called Trump's sudden demand for an investigation into Democrats associated with Epstein "a smokescreen" to prevent the release of new documents, HuffPost explains.
“Well, I don’t want to talk about it because fake news like you, you’re a terrible reporter, and fake news like you they just keep bringing that up to deflect from the tremendous success of the Trump administration,” he said.
A few minutes later, Trump "lashed out again," when asked by a reporter about Carlson's "friendly interview" with antisemite Fuentes.
"What role do you think Tucker Carlson could play in the Republican Party and the conservative movement going forward?” the reporter asked.
"Trump praised Carlson for saying “good things” about him and bragged about how many page views his interview with Carlson received. That’s when someone ― perhaps the same reporter who had asked about Epstein ― interrupted with a follow-up question about Fuentes," HuffPost writes.
Trump, who immediately cut the reporter off, saying, "Will you let me finish my statement? You are the worst. You’re with Bloomberg, right? You are the worst. I don’t even know why they have you.”
He then continued, saying, "You can’t tell him who to interview. If he wants to interview Nick Fuentes ― I don’t know much about him ― but if he wants to do it, get the word out. Let ’em, y’know, people have to decide, ultimately people have to decide.”
Trump had dinner with Fuentes at Mar a Lago in 2022 with Kanye West and later claimed he had no idea who Fuentes was.
