Jennifer Siebel Newsom is scolding President Donald Trump for the “disturbing” way he spoke to a 60 Minutes anchor.
Siebel Newsom, who is married to California Governor Gavin Newsom, wrote on X that she was “shocked” after watching Trump blow up at Norah O’Donnell during an interview on Sunday about the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The 79-year-old president became agitated when O’Donnell presented him with excerpts from the suspected gunman Cole Tomas Allen’s manifesto, including Allen’s alleged rationalization that he was “no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”
“Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you’re horrible people. Horrible people,” Trump hissed at O’Donnell.
The president, who has made a habit of insulting female journalists, went on to tell O’Donnell she “should be ashamed” for reading that portion of the manifesto and called the veteran correspondent a “disgrace.”
Siebel Newsom, 51, condemned Trump’s outburst, saying his behavior is shaping how boys treat girls and normalizing aggression towards women.
“Seeing a president speak to a woman journalist with that level of contempt — and a clear allergy to facts — is disturbing, though at this point not unexpected given his pattern of behavior,” the actress and documentary filmmaker wrote.
“But that is the problem,” she continued. “Because when that level of disrespect from the highest office in the country repeats itself, it starts to trickle down into our culture and define what power looks like, shaping how boys and plenty of men see women and girls and what they come to accept as normal behavior.”
Siebel Newsom, who shares four children ranging from ages 10 to 16 with her husband, said “this cultural norm of hate, othering, and misogyny becomes pervasive” in a digital ecosystem that amplifies “rhetoric rooted in political division.”
“It’s no wonder we have a culture that normalizes dominance and aggression toward women and girls, which not only silences them but also leads to internalized misogyny in others,” she wrote, before thanking O’Donnell and other female journalists.
“This culture of misogyny is on all of us, and it has to end,” she concluded.
The White House and 60 Minutes did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Siebel Newsom is a longtime advocate for women’s rights. The filmmaker, who in 2022 accused disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein of raping her in a hotel room in 2005, directed the award-winning 2011 documentary Miss Representation, which explored the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in the U.S.
Her film production company, Girls Club Entertainment, develops independent films with a focus on empowering women.
She previously hit out at Trump after the U.S. women’s hockey team rejected his invitation to the State of the Union, following a joke he made on a call with the men’s team that he’d face impeachment if he didn’t extend the invite to the women as well.
“Clearly they prefer arenas where women are actually respected!” Siebel Newsom wrote. “As they should. 👏”
O’Donnell, meanwhile, landed a clip-worthy moment during the interview, when Trump insisted, “I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody,” after she read from the gunman’s manifesto.
“Oh, you think—do you think he was referring to you?” she interrupted, calling the president out for appearing to identify himself in the gunman’s words.
“Excuse me, excuse me,” Trump shot back, pausing for a beat as he appeared to process her question. He then pressed on without recalibrating, voluntarily invoking the backlash over his close friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“I’m not a pedophile. You read that c--- from some sick person. I got associated with stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated,” he said. ”Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, let’s say, Epstein or other things.”
