‘You are obnoxious’: Trump snaps at female ABC reporter over boat strike footage question

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump lashed out at ABC senior political reporter Rachel Scott on Monday, December 8, during a meeting with farmers at the White House.

Trump grew angry after Scott followed up with a question about whether he planned to release classified footage of a September military strike on a suspected drug boat. The strike has sparked controversy in recent weeks, with critics of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth arguing the action may have been illegal.

Donald Trump berates ABC News reporter Rachel Scott

In the video clip circulating online, Scott asks Trump, “Are you committing to releasing the whole video?” Trump, sounding frustrated, fired back, “Didn’t I just tell you that?” Scott replied, “You said it was up to Secretary Hegseth.”

Trump then snapped, calling her “the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place” and added, “Let me just tell ya, you are an obnoxious — actually, a terrible reporter.” He also said, “It’s always the same thing with you. I told you, whatever Pete Hegseth wants to do is okay with me.”

His heated response came after an argument over whether he had recently said he had “no problem” with releasing the footage. Trump said that “whatever” Secretary Hegseth decides is fine with him and claimed that drug boat smuggling into the US has dropped by 94%, adding that each destroyed boat saves an average of 25,000 American lives.

Pete Hegseth’s boat strikes draw backlash

Since early September, the Trump administration has carried out more than 20 strikes on suspected drug boats. Critics have accused Secretary Hegseth of committing a war crime by ordering a second strike on two survivors after a suspected drug boat was hit on September 2, killing nine people.

The controversy began with a Washington Post report claiming Hegseth ordered troops to “kill everybody” on the vessel. Hegseth denied the report. The New York Times later reported that WaPo had the timeline wrong and that Hegseth’s order was not a response to surveillance showing that at least two people survived the first strike.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that Navy Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley also denied the Washington Post’s account.

Donald Trump blasts Fox reporter over affordability crisis

This recent outburst followed another incident on December 2, Trump called out Fox Business reporter Edward Lawrence during a Cabinet meeting over questions on American affordability.

Lawrence asked, “When you talk about affordability, are the American people getting impatient with the reforms you’re making?” Trump interrupted, saying, “I think they’re getting fake news from guys like you. Affordability’s a hoax started by Democrats who caused the problem of pricing. And they didn’t end it when they lost it in a landslide.”

Trump added, “We won every swing state, we won the popular vote, we won everything. You take a look at districts, it was 2,750 to 500, 525, because that was an affordability problem.”