A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
This week brought fresh reminders of what President Trump does when he wants to deflect unwelcome questions from reporters - he insults and attempts to intimidate. In this analysis, NPR's David Folkenflik says the intimidation is meant for media bosses, too.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: When President Trump is confronted by a question he doesn't like, he rarely holds back. On Friday, asked aboard Air Force One whether there was something incriminating about him in the Jeffrey Epstein files, Trump told Bloomberg News' Catherine Lucey, quiet - quiet, piggy. Trump became, if anything, even more contentious toward another reporter Tuesday at the White House. It was at a joint appearance with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARY BRUCE: Is it appropriate, Mr. President, for your family to be doing business in Saudi Arabia while you're president? Is that a conflict of interest?
FOLKENFLIK: Mary Bruce of ABC News also turned to the prince.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BRUCE: And your Royal Highness, the U.S. intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist. 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office.
FOLKENFLIK: Trump's response about the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was a shocker. Things happen, he said. But Trump wasn't happy about the question.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Who are you with?
BRUCE: I'm with ABC News, sir.
TRUMP: You're with who?
BRUCE: ABC News, sir.
TRUMP: Fake news. ABC fake news.
FOLKENFLIK: Bruce later asked another.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BRUCE: Mr. President, why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files? Why not just do it now?
TRUMP: You know...
FOLKENFLIK: And then Trump laid into her.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: It's not the question that I mind. It's your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It's the way you ask these questions.
FOLKENFLIK: This isn't Trump in his Don Rickles Friars roast insult comic mode. This is Trump trying to silence reporters, just as he's done since he started his first run for office in 2015. Here's what Trump said after Megyn Kelly moderated the first Republican debate for Fox News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: And she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. And, you know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.
FOLKENFLIK: Trump mocked a New York Times reporter's congenital condition. He called a Black reporter racist, told a Chinese American reporter she should go ask China about his handling of COVID. In his second term, Trump has gone even harder on the mainstream media, surrounding himself with reporters from sympathetic and even sycophantic outlets. So let's return to that exchange at the White House on Tuesday. Just listen to the way Trump takes issues with Bruce's questions to the two world leaders.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: You start off with a man who is highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question.
FOLKENFLIK: Mary Bruce is not a subordinate. She doesn't work for the president or the prince. She works for ABC News, yet Trump wants deference from her and not just her.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BRUCE: Why not release them now?
TRUMP: I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and it's so wrong. And we have a great commissioner, the chairman, who should look at that.
FOLKENFLIK: Trump's chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has been pressuring the networks, and they've responded. After he suggested it take action on Jimmy Kimmel, ABC's corporate parent temporarily suspended the late-night host. The FCC has also launched investigations into nearly every major broadcast network. Trump himself has sued networks, newspapers and social media giants on questionable grounds and come away with several settlements of $10 million or more.
Media chieftains are finding other ways to play ball with the president, too. Among those attending Tuesday night's black-tie state dinner with the crown prince at the White House was CBS's new controlling owner, David Ellison. He needed the FCC's approval to acquire CBS and will need it again in his attempt to buy CNN's parent company. So even as reporters pose tough questions to the president, Trump is asking their bosses a question of his own - with so much at stake, is it worth it?
David Folkenflik, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF BUZZ GRAVELLE'S "PROOF OF EXISTENCE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
