Journalists should 'appreciate' Trump's 'frankness' after he calls female reporter 'piggy', says White House

Donald Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters they should "appreciate the frankness" of the remark.

The US president's angry response was caught on camera as he travelled back to Washington on Friday.

His outburst was targeted at a Bloomberg journalist Catherine Lucey, who had asked him why he did not want to release the remaining Epstein files.

Her line of questioning infuriated the American leader, who singled her out from the press pack by pointing at her face and barking: "Quiet, quiet piggy."

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“I think everyone in this room should appreciate the frankness and the openness that you get from President Trump on a near-daily basis,” Ms. Leavitt told reporters during a briefing on Thursday.

"The president is very frank and honest with everyone in this room. You’ve seen it yourself. You’ve all experienced it yourselves. And I think it’s one of the many reasons that the American people re-elected this president, because of his frankness.

"And he calls out fake news when he sees it. He gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him, when you spread fake news about him and his administration.”

She added: “The president being frank and open and honest to your faces, rather than hiding behind your backs, is, frankly, a lot more respectful than what you saw in the last administration.”

A clip of this short interaction has been circulated by Trump's critics, with left-leaning political organisation Occupy Democrats saying: "This is the President of the United States.

"This is how he talks to the press and other adults that he is supposed to lead. America can do so much better!"

Really American called the moment "disgusting" and described the president as a “disrespectful, unfit creep”.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed the Epstein files as a “Democrat hoax" and denied knowledge of any criminal wrongdoing by the paedophile financier.

This is despite there being emails in which Epstein said Trump “knew about the girls" and spent "hours" at his home with Virginia Giuffre - messages that were released to the public among 23,000 files last week.

The US House of Representatives is expected to vote on Tuesday to release the remaining Epstein files.

Trump had initially been against the move, but changed course on Sunday and said he was happy for Congress to do so because he has “nothing to hide”.

Bloomberg reporters have a history of feeling the wrath of President Trump. Early last week, he told another: "Will you let me finish my statement? You are the worst."

He continued: “You’re with Bloomberg, right? You are the worst. I don’t know why they even have you.”

Trump has also allegedly used “piggy” as an insult before to describe Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who won the title aged 19 while Trump co-owned the organisation.

"He was overwhelming, I was so scared of him,” Ms Machado said during Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

"He’d yell at me all the time. He’d tell me ‘You look ugly’, or ‘You look fat’. Sometimes he’d play with me and say: ‘Hello, Miss Piggy’."