President Donald Trump openly insulted a female reporter, telling her to be “quiet, piggy” when she attempted to question him about the Jeffrey Epstein case. The incident, which occurred during an informal press gathering, was documented in a video released by the White House.
In the footage, the President can be seen turning toward an off-camera journalist and waving a finger in her direction as he says, “quiet, quiet, piggy.” The reporter was later identified by CBS News’s Jennifer Jacobs as being from Bloomberg.
The term “pig” has historically been used as a derogatory slur to insult a woman’s appearance or demean her as bothersome. Using the diminutive “piggy” adds a condescending, infantilizing tone to the insult. This language is consistent with a pattern of gendered insults from the President, who has previously publicly called television personality Rosie O’Donnell a “fat pig” and a “slob.”
This pattern also extends to his time in the pageant industry. Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who won the title at age 19 while Trump co-owned the organization, has described his behavior toward her. “He was overwhelming, I was so scared of him,” Machado said during the 2016 presidential campaign. “He’d yell at me all the time… Sometimes he’d play with me and say, ‘Hello, Miss Piggy.'”
The November 14th outburst culminated several days of tense exchanges regarding the Epstein files, a subject the administration has faced mounting pressure to address. The President’s public stance on the matter has shifted in real time. On Sunday, he posted on Truth Social that House Republicans should vote to release the files, declaring, “we have nothing to hide” and labeling the matter a “Democrat Hoax.”
However, by Monday, his tone had evolved. Speaking from the Oval Office, he stated he would sign the measure if it reached his desk but attempted to reframe the issue. “We’ll give them everything. Sure… but don’t talk about it too much, because honestly, I don’t want to take it away from us. It’s really a Democrat problem. The Democrats were Epstein’s friends, all of them, and it’s a hoax.”
The friction was also evident the day before the “piggy” remark. At Palm Beach International Airport on Sunday, when a journalist referenced a suggestion that a Justice Department probe was a “smokescreen” for a lack of transparency, Trump retorted, “I don’t want to talk about it because fake news like you—you’re a terrible reporter—they just keep bringing that up to deflect from the tremendous success of the Trump administration.”
Minutes later, when questioned about an unrelated controversial interview, he snapped at another reporter who interrupted him: “Will you let me finish my statement? You are the worst—you’re with Bloomberg, right? You are the worst, I don’t even know why they have you.” The identity of this reporter remains unconfirmed, though Mediaite suggested it may have been Jennifer Jacobs.
Watch the video –