Trump has now repeatedly managed to entertainingly wreck ABC News reporters with the same insult, skewering them as being utterly “obnoxious” when they try to unfairly attack members of his administration or attempt to unfairly make him look bad. In fact, he’s now twice done that in the context of war, first in December of 2025, in the context of strikes on Venezuelan drug boats, and then again in March of 2026, in the context of the Iran strikes.
The more recent of the two incidents occurred when he was on Air Force One after about two weeks of “Operation Epic Fury” strikes on Iran, and a reporter tried to press him on the large deployments of personnel to the region. That led to the president lashing out by labelling the reporter, who was apparently from ABC News, “obnoxious.”
The reporter asked, pressing him on the report that thousands of US military personnel have been deployed to the region, “Can you explain why you’re sending 5,000 marines and sailors?” Responding, the president angrily snapped, “You’re a very obnoxious person.”
The same reporter harassed President Trump about the claim that he had worn a hat at the dignified transfer of remains for service members who have died in the conflict, and Trump ended up asking the reporter which station she works for. “ABC News,” she answered.
Trump then sounded off on ABC News as “corrupt”, saying, “One of the worst, most fake, most corrupt. You know what, ABC News, I think it’s maybe the most corrupt news organization on the planet. I think they’re terrible.” He added, “I don’t want any more from ABC News.” Watch that moment here:
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This wasn’t the first time that Trump sounded off on “obnoxious” ABC News. He also did so in December, when ABC’s Rachel Scott pressed him on if he would force Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to release the full video of a strike on a Venezuelan drug boat.
The president snapped, “Whatever he decides is okay with me. So every boat we knock out of the water, every boat we save 25,000 American lives, that was a boat loaded up with drugs. I saw the video. They were trying to turn the boat back to where it could float, and we didn’t want to see that, because that boat was loaded up with drugs, just like everything else.”
He continued, “But every boat we shoot down, and I don’t know if you know, we’re 92 or 94% down in drugs coming in by the sea, and we’re trying to find who are the 6% because I don’t know, people aren’t liking to drive boats right now, loaded up with drugs. But every single put think of that every single boat we shoot out, on average, we save 25,000 American lives.”
Then, as Scott kept pressing him on the issue, he snapped, “You’re the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place. Let me just tell you, you are an obnoxious, actually a terrible reporter. It’s always the same thing with you. I told you, whatever Pete Hegseth wants to do is okay with me.”
Watch him here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video