President Donald Trump lashed out at a usually pally Fox News correspondent for asking a “stupid” question about the Iran war following a meeting to discuss college athletics.
Trump, flanked by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, spent 90 minutes pushing for “common sense” rules without “endless litigation” for college athletes at a “Save College Sports” roundtable.
When it was time for questions, Fox News’ Senior White House Correspondent Peter Doocy was the first reporter to talk, and immediately tried turning the president’s attention back to Iran and the international conflict engulfing the Middle East that has voters concerned.
“It sounds like the Russians are helping Iran target and attack Americans now,” Doocy began, referencing reports that Russia, one of Iran’s key allies, is offering intelligence support to the besieged nation to assist with strikes on American targets in the region. But the 79-year-old commander in chief didn’t want to hear it.
“That’s an easy problem, compared to what we’re doing here,” Trump snapped back, seeming to suggest that college sports were a more challenging crisis, which elicited some laughs. But Trump was not done.
“Can I be honest? It’s just... I have a lot of respect for you,” Trump said. “You’ve always been very nice to me. What a stupid question that is to be asking at this time. We’re talking about something else."
“Can we keep this... maybe... a little bit...” the president said before trailing off to take the next question.
Six American service members have been killed so far in the Middle East, all of them in a drone strike on a port in Kuwait. Many more have been injured in retaliatory strikes by Iran, as the conflict enters its seventh day.
U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity have stated that Russia has shared the locations of American military assets with Iran, as the country has suffered losses to its own intelligence-gathering abilities because of joint U.S.-Israeli bombardment.
Trump has a history of attacking press freedom, referring to media outlets as “the enemy of the people” and popularizing the phrase “fake news.”
Throughout his second term, he has lashed out at several reporters for asking questions he does not like, most of whom are female.
“Quiet. Quiet, piggy,” Trump snapped on Air Force One in November at a female reporter who was attempting to ask him about the Epstein files.
Trump spent much of Friday afternoon discussing college sports, a topic he said was “very important” to him, while acknowledging that other international events may be more pressing at the moment.
“Somebody actually said, from the media, ‘I think you’ll get bored after about a week or two.’ No, we don’t get bored. I never get bored,” Trump said in defending his decision to enter into the joint attack on Iran in the early morning hours of Saturday, Feb. 28.
“We projected four to five weeks, but we have the capability to go far longer than that. We’ll do it,” Trump said of how long he expected the situation with Iran to last.
Gas prices have already climbed sharply in the U.S. in response to the conflict, which has strangled oil shipping from the region.
The president reestablished his aims for the war on Friday, stating that he would pursue it until he received the “unconditional surrender” of Iran.
