The White House doubled down on President Donald Trump’s attack on CNN reporter Kristen Holmes by bringing her children into the equation.
The president, 80, raised eyebrows on Monday, August 17, during a Q&A at the Oval Office when Holmes, 40, questioned him about Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Holmes asked Trump for his response to Ossoff’s recent claim that he would rather “travel with your aide Natalie Harp and build the ballroom than do your job as president.”
Trump asked her to repeat the person’s name who made the initial allegations, responding, “You mean Pee-Wee Herman? Pee-Wee Herman look-alike.”
The commander in chief claimed, “No, I would much rather do other things. We’re building a great facility here. We’re fixing a White House that hasn’t been taken care of.”
Later on, Trump reprimanded Holmes, who was off camera, shouting at her to be “quiet” as he felt she was being “disrespectful” in front of a 10-year-old guest being honored at the event.
He called the journalist a “fake reporter” after Holmes asked a follow-up question about Trump’s decision to pull back from joint U.S. and South Korea military drills.
Trump notably turned directly to the child and asked, “Don’t you find her disrespectful?” He also labeled Holmes a “loud, boisterous person.”
After the Q&A session ended, the White House “rapid response” account on X, which claims in its bio that it was set up to support Trump’s “America First agenda and holding the Fake News accountable” slammed Holmes — before mentioning her kids.
The account called Holmes “a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession.”
“Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question,” read a second X post shared by the White House account on Monday. “They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive. It’s quite troubling.”
Us has reached out to the White House for comment.
CNN issued a statement of support for Holmes shortly after the social media message went viral.
“Kristen Holmes is one of the most respected and accomplished journalists covering the White House,” the outlet said in the Monday statement. “This afternoon, she did her job and asked the President of the United States a tough, relevant, and newsworthy question on behalf of the American people.”
CNN added: “Public officials are free to challenge reporting they disagree with, but personal attacks on journalists for asking questions are beneath the office and inconsistent with the principles of a free press. We stand firmly behind Kristen and reject these attacks in the strongest possible terms.”
Holmes, for her part, appeared on The Lead With Jake Tapper and OutFront With Erin Burnett on Monday, where each broadcast replayed Trump’s remarks about her. Holmes, however, did not directly address the scandal.
Holmes’ is not the first female reporter — nor the first at CNN — to become the target of Trump’s controversial remarks over the years.
Last month, Trump came under scrutiny for commenting on CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins’ appearance during the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“[Kaitlan is] a young, attractive woman. She never smiles,” Trump said of Collins on July 23, one of many instances in which he has commented on her appearance. “I said, ‘Kaitlan, do you ever smile? Smile. You have a nice position, you’re at CNN fake news, you should be a happy person. So smile, Kaitlan, just smile.’”
Trump then said he previously mistook Collins, 34, for Dylan Mulvaney after seeing the transgender actress on a beer can in 2023.
When asked to comment on Trump targeting the reporter and her looks, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Us in a statement, “The liberal media can dish it but they can’t take it.”
Collins, for her part, addressed Trump’s recent surge in attacks against her during the July 27 episode of The Daily Show.
“I’ve always felt this, regardless of who’s the president … it’s really not about me, and I don’t want it to be about my reaction. If you let it become about that, then it becomes a back-and-forth between the two of us,” she explained. “Instead, I think it’s more important to remind people in those moments when he is insulting me, he is criticizing me … it’s important to put the reminder back on the work, on the question, and on the non-answers that we get.”
Collins added, “I’ve covered Trump for 10 years so I’ve listened to pretty much all of his speeches with very little exception. I actually think it’s helpful for people to listen to [his speeches] in their entirety, which people really don’t these days. In the room, I was not surprised when he insulted me.”
“That happens pretty regularly inside the Oval Office — this was just a bigger venue where it was happening,” she continued. “What was most surprising to me is that the room was filled with a lot of his staffers, his cabinet, his allies, Republicans in Congress. It was so quiet in the room during the president’s remarks.”
