Anderson Cooper reacts in disbelief to Trump calling reporter ‘piggy’

Donald Trump referred to Bloomberg correspondent Catherine Lucey as a 'piggy' during a clash over Epstein files while on board Air Force One on Friday
UPDATED NOV 21, 2025
Anderson Cooper discussed Donald Trump’s latest insult while speaking with CNN commentator Ana Navarro on Tuesday, November 18 (Patricia Schlein/Star Max/GC Images)
Anderson Cooper discussed Donald Trump’s latest insult while speaking with CNN commentator Ana Navarro on Tuesday, November 18 (Patricia Schlein/Star Max/GC Images)


WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump’s recent insult toward a female reporter has been making waves online, with many expressing concern, and Anderson Cooper did not hold back his reaction.

CNN’s Cooper expressed bafflement at how Trump continues to lob juvenile insults at others. The incident occurred on Friday, November 14, aboard Air Force One, when Trump grew irritated by a reporter’s question and called her “piggy.”

Anderson Cooper wonders why Trump's behavior continues to be tolerated

On Tuesday, November 18, Anderson Cooper discussed Donald Trump’s latest insult while speaking with CNN commentator Ana Navarro.

“I remember a couple of weeks ago,” Cooper said, recalling an exchange between Trump and a female reporter last month. As the reporter asked a question, Trump told Vice President JD Vance, “I just like to watch her talk,” and then called her “darling.”

EW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 16: Anderson Cooper of CNN attends the trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 16, 2024 in New York City. Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records last year, which prosecutors say was an effort to hide a potential sex scandal, both before and after the 2016 presidential election. Trump is the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images)
Anderson Cooper of CNN attends the trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 16, 2024, in New York City (Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images)

Cooper recollected, “A female reporter was trying to ask him a question, and he was saying to the guy, like… 'I just like to watch her talk.' Like, just completely dismissing this person."

He continued, "And I know DEI is not allowed anymore. And I know diversity and actually treating people with decency and human kindness is not, you know, what’s popular today in some quarters.”

"But I just don’t understand how somebody acts like this time after time, and everyone just pretends like, 'Oh, that’s just what this guy does,'" he added.

President Donald Trump speaks to members of press aboard Air Force One on November 14, 2025 while in flight from Washington, DC to West Palm Beach International Airport. Trump is scheduled to spend the weekend at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press aboard Air Force One on November 14, 2025, while in flight from Washington, DC to West Palm Beach International Airport. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)

Navarro replied, “We’ve grown numb to it. And I think we have to fight that urge to normalize it and get numb to it.” She urged journalists not to accept such behavior as normal.

“And I also think that other journalists in the Oval Office, other journalists that are present, when he behaves this way, have to express solidarity with the people that are getting berated, because today it might be ABC, but tomorrow it might be us, or it might be them,” she stressed.

Trump tells Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey 'quiet, quiet piggy'



Last week on Air Force One, Donald Trump confronted Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey after she asked why his administration had hesitated to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

“Quiet, Quiet piggy,” Trump said to Lucey. A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told AFP that the reporter had behaved “in an inappropriate and unprofessional way towards her colleagues…If you're going to give it, you have to be able to take.”



A video clip showed Lucey speaking at the same time as another reporter, a common occurrence as journalists try to get the president’s attention.

This was not the first time Trump had clashed with a reporter. He also lashed out at ABC News correspondent Mary Bruce in the Oval Office during a visit by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Bruce asked the crown prince about the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump family business dealings, and the Epstein case. After her questions, Trump told Bruce not to “embarrass our guest,” called her a “terrible reporter,” and threatened to suspend ABC’s broadcast license.

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