Trump Explodes on ABC Reporter Over Epstein Questions - Latest Outburst Demands License To Be Revoked

President Donald Trump criticised ABC chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce on Tuesday, during a White House encounter with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), after she questioned him about his family's business dealings, asking him why his family continues to do business in Saudi Arabia.

She also brought up the status of the Jeffrey Epstein files and asked why the Department of Justice has not released those files when he himself promised transparency earlier. The confrontation unfolded as the Saudi Crown Prince visited Washington for the first time since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump Criticises ABC Reporter During Press Exchange

Mr Trump personally criticised Bruce, calling her a 'terrible person and a terrible reporter,' and escalated his anger by demanding that her network (ABC) have their broadcasting license revoked. He further told the ABC correspondent, 'Your news is so fake and it is so wrong.'

'It is not the question that I mind. It is your attitude,' the president told Bruce while members of the press gathered at the Oval Office to cover his meeting with the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. 'I think you are a terrible reporter. It's the way you ask these questions - You start off with a man who is highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question'.

Mary Bruce

Mr Trump lectured the news correspondent as well by telling her that she could have asked 'that same exact question nicely.'

On the Epstein question, he addressed it by saying that as far as the files is - he has nothing to do with the convicted sex offender. He also pointed out that he threw Epstein out of his club many years ago 'because I thought he was a sick pervert.'

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Trump Targets ABC and NBC: Repeated Licence Threats and Past Clashes

According to Reuters, this was not the first time Mr Trump had criticised ABC in recent months. Back in September, Mr Trump praised Republican Representative Carr after he pressured networks to pull ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air, following Kimmel's remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. At the time, Mr Trump also floated the idea that broadcasters' licences should be revoked.

Mr Trump has repeatedly called on the FCC to cancel the broadcast licences of ABC and Comcast-owned NBC, arguing that the networks should be held accountable for using public airwaves. However, Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez firmly dismissed the president's threats by saying, 'The FCC doesn't get to decide whether the news coverage of those in power is acceptable. It has neither the legal authority nor the constitutional right to pursue broadcasters for their journalism. These threats sound ominous, but they are empty'.