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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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President Donald Trump clashed with a female reporter during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on Sunday, calling her a "very obnoxious person."
Trump criticized the journalist after she and another reporter attempted to ask questions during the briefing. As the journalist began to ask about reports that the United States is deploying 5,000 Marines and sailors to the Middle East, the president appeared to make a "shhh" gesture before taking a different question from a male reporter.
When asked for comment about the exchange, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Newsweek, "Americans appreciate that President Trump tells it like it is—and obnoxious is obnoxious, no matter what gender you are."
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Why It Matters
The president has a history of clashing with female reporters for asking questions about various topics, with multiple testy exchanges in recent months. Last November, he referred to Bloomberg News' Catherine Lucey as "piggy" after she asked about the Jeffrey Epstein files aboard Air Force One. And last month, he criticized CNN's Kaitlan Collins after she asked a question about the Epstein scandal at the White House, calling her the "worst reporter."
These instances have drawn renewed attention to Trump's treatment of journalists, an issue that has repeatedly surfaced as his relationship with the press has, at times, been adversarial. Female journalists around the world face mounting attacks, both on and offline and are subjected to specific and disproportionate threats, according to UNESCO.
What To Know
Later in the same exchange on Sunday, Trump appeared to ignore the same reporter after she asked about six service members who died last week when a KC-135 refueling plane crashed in western Iraq.
Trump looked at the reporter as she asked: "Do you have a comment on the six service members who passed?"
He then abruptly turned away and said to other reporters: "Who else?"
Also, during the same gaggle, the president lashed out at ABC News after being asked by a reporter about his political action committee sending a fundraising email using a photo of Trump from last Saturday's dignified transfer honoring the six fallen soldiers.
Moments later, Trump asked who the reporter worked for and when she said ABC News, he called the network "maybe one of the most corrupt news organizations on the planet."
When the reporter continued to press for a comment, he then said: "OK, I don't want any more from ABC."
Trump on Sunday also attacked the media for its coverage of the war in a lengthy post on Truth Social.
In the post, he accused Iran for "feeding" the "very appreciative Fake News Media" in the U.S. and floated treason charges against media outlets he accused of reporting false information about the war.
In the post, he also praised Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr, who has threatened broadcasters with cancellation of their licenses if they did not "correct course" on news coverage.
Trump said he was "thrilled" to see Carr "looking at the licenses of some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic 'News' Organizations."
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What People Are Saying
CNN’s chief media analyst Brian Stelter said on CNN on Sunday night that Trump "really seems to be fuming about how the Iran war is being covered by the American media. Quite frankly, Trump does not want this scrutiny. He would prefer a propagandistic, pliant press in the United States, but he's not going to get that. He's not getting that and so he's fuming on Truth Social about it."
Conservative commentator Eric Daugherty posted on X, about Trump's exchange with a different female reporter: "President Trump TORCHES reporter aboard Air Force One for asking his top secret Iran military plans. 'I don't talk to people like YOU about that. Why would I tell YOU I'm sending or not sending? I don't talk military strategy, WHO would answer that?!'"
Update 3/16/26, 8:42 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
Update 3/17/26, 4:16 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with a comment from Anna Kelly.
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