The White House has lashed out at a CNN reporter after she asked a question about President Donald Trump’s relationship with an aide, in the latest in a series of attacks on female journalists.
During an event in the Oval Office yesterday, reporter Kristen Holmes asked Mr Trump to respond to comments by a Democratic politician about the president’s executive assistant Natalie Harp.
“Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question,” the White House’s “Rapid Response” team said in an X post directed at Ms Holmes and linking to a video of Mr Trump’s response.
The Republican leader later berated Ms Holmes as “very disrespectful” as she asked a question on North Korea.
The event was to honour a teenage lifeguard who saved a child from swells, but the president opened the floor to questions on unrelated issues, as he regularly does.
.@KristenhCNN: Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question. They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive. It’s quite troubling. https://t.co/EWgPy7mXQP
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 17, 2026
“You’re a loud, boisterous person, you’re fake news, be quiet,” Mr Trump said to Ms Holmes.
CNN said the attacks on Ms Holmes were “beneath the office.”
“We stand firmly behind Kristen and reject these attacks in the strongest possible terms,” it said in a statement.
Ms Harp, 35, has been the subject of recent internet commentary after it emerged she was one of the few aides with Mr Trump during a secret Air Force One swap in July.
Watch: ‘Quiet! Quiet! Quiet!’ -Trump shuts down reporter in Oval Office
Jon Ossoff, a Democratic senator and possible 2028 presidential contender, accused Mr Trump in a campaign speech on Sunday of wanting to “build his ballroom and travel with Natalie” instead of doing his job.
Mr Trump dismissed Mr Ossoff as a “Pee-wee Herman lookalike” and defended his construction of a $400 million ballroom at the White House, but did not mention his aide.
The White House criticised Ms Holmes for asking about Harp during an event with the lifeguard.
“@POTUS hosts a hero lifeguard in the Oval Office and she uses it as an opportunity to take a cheap shot about one of President Trump’s staffers,” the Rapid Response account said.
“These scumbags are the lowest of the low.”
Natalie Harp pictured with Donald Trump as they arrived at the White House on Marine One on 16 August
Ms Harp, a former television news personality, is frequently seen at Mr Trump’s side and has been dubbed the “human printer” for supplying the president with print-outs of information.
In the book ‘Regime Change’ published this year, two New York Times reporters wrote that Ms Harp’s loyalty extended to writing him “adoring letters” including one that read: “You are all that matters to me.”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung had earlier slammed Mr Ossoff for the Harp comments, calling him “the biggest cuck loser in politics” – using internet slang for a submissive man.