Trump appears to call female reporter a slur on | Political News

Donald Trump appears to have been caught on digital camera calling a reporter a “b—-” after her query provoked an offended outburst, according to two lip readers.

“Mr president, you are here against the backdrop of a war in Iran, why focus on all these projects right now? We’re still seeing gas prices soar,” ABC’s Rachel Scott requested Trump on Thursday during his go to to the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, which is at the moment under renovation.

The 79-year-old president turned visibly upset as he cut her off and fumed: “You know why? Because I want to keep our country beautiful and safe, beautiful also. This place was a disgusting place, it was Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and we had a terrible, I don’t know you probably don’t see dirt but I do.”

He then launched a personal assault on Scott, saying, “Such a stupid question you ask. We’re fixing up the reflecting pond to the Lincoln Memorial of the Washington Monument and you say ‘Why are you fixing it up?’ Because you can understand dirt maybe better than I can, but I don’t allow it. This is one of the worst reporters. She’s with ABC fake news, and she’s a horror show.

“A query like that is a shame to our nation,” Trump added. Shortly afterward, as the press was being escorted away, cameras captured the president pointing toward the reporters before speaking to his team and shaking his head. While microphones failed to capture audio from the exchange, Jeremy Freeman, a qualified forensic expert witness lip reader, observed that Trump persisted in his criticism of Scott.

“I can affirm that Trump said, ‘She’s a bitch there,'” stated Freeman, who was born profoundly deaf and primarily depends on lip reading, in an interview with The Mirror U.S.

Nicola Hickling, another profoundly deaf lip reader, reached the same determination. She explained the challenges in confirming whether a word like “b—-” was spoken.

“When analysing the phrase ‘b—-‘ from a lipreading perspective, it’s important to perceive that sure speech sounds share equivalent or close to equivalent mouth actions, recognized as visemes. This can create what is referred to as a homophenous overlap, where a number of phrases seem visually comparable on the lips,” Nicola explained to The Mirror US.

She pointed out that the word b—- starts with the B sound, which is “shaped by both lips coming together before releasing.” Yet, identical movements occur with the P and M sounds.

Consequently, “b—-” can resemble words like “pitch.” Nicola further explained that the middle vowel in b—- is less distinguishable visually, and while the final “ch” sound is “partially seen through slight lip rigidity and narrowing of the mouth” definitive identification remains “tough from visible analysis alone.

“For this reason, professional lipreading does not rely solely on mouth shape. Context, facial expression, timing, sentence structure, body language, and conversational setting are all assessed together before reaching a conclusion,” she explained.

Despite these complexities, the lip reader in the end concluded that Trump does seem to have called the reporter a b—-. “Due to the context of what was said beforehand, I believe Trump says the word b—-,” Nicola said.

Trump’s latest outburst drew swift condemnation from critics across social media. “As a country, we’ve become really desensitized to how much of an embarrassment Trump is on a daily basis. Obama wore a tan suit, and it was a scandal on cable news for a week,” one X person wrote.

“Gold ballrooms, arcs, Bibles, treason planes from our adversaries costing American tax payers $1 billion, Trump coins/money, crypto and now his phony, ugly ass on our passports. All this while Americans are suffering, gas/grocery prices are at their highest. Trump is the b—-,” a second commented.

“Disinhibition, so his true self is shining through in more public settings,” another famous.

The Mirror US has reached out to the White House for remark, while Scott shared footage of her exchange with Trump on X.

“I asked the president why focus on these projects now amid the backdrop of the war in Iran and as gas prices soar,” she posted with the video. “He said the question was ‘stupid’ and a ‘disgrace to the country’ saying he’s ‘fixing’ the reflecting pool,” she continued.