President Donald Trump exchanged tense remarks with a reporter during a brief media interaction before departing the White House on Wednesday. The exchange occurred after the reporter questioned him about federal investigators seeking records connected to the 2020 election. Trump responded by repeating his claims about the election and criticizing the reporter.
Donald Trump insults female reporter before going to Cincinnati
President Donald Trump insulted a reporter on March 11, 2026, after being questioned about federal investigators seeking election records. PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Liz Landers asked Trump about a federal grand jury subpoena issued by the FBI related to 2020 voter results in Maricopa County, Arizona, as he departed the White House for Cincinnati, Ohio. Trump responded, “Well, they probably thought the election was rigged, right?”
When Landers replied that the election was not rigged, Trump questioned her response. “Really? How do you know?” he said. Landers then cited statements from Trump’s own administration, telling him, “Your own attorney general in 2020 said that there was no measurable voter fraud.” Trump interrupted her and replied, “Oh, really? You don’t think it was rigged? I think it was rigged. And if you say it wasn’t rigged, then you’re a rotten reporter.”
In December 2020, former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, who had been appointed by Trump during his first term, said the Justice Department had “not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.” Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, who received 306 Electoral College votes and 51.3 percent of the popular vote.
Arizona’s Republican governor at the time, Doug Ducey, said the state’s election system was secure. He wrote on X in November 2020, “I’ve been pretty outspoken about Arizona’s election system, and bragged about it quite a bit, including in the Oval Office.”
During his second administration, Trump has also criticized female reporters at press events. In February, he called CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins “the worst reporter” after she asked about survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. He told Post reporter Natalie Allison she had a “very bad attitude.”
