CNN put out a statement slamming the White House after President Donald Trump’s rapid response team blasted White House correspondent Kristen Holmes on X. While Trump took questions from the Oval Office, Holmes asked him for his reaction to Sen. Jon Ossoff’s comment that the president would rather “build a ballroom and travel with [White House aide] Natalie [Harp]” than do his job as president. Trump replied by calling him “Pee-wee Herman.”
The Rapid Response 47 account soon took aim at Holmes for invoking Ossoff’s jab.
“@KristenhCNN is a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession,” it wrote on X. “@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. These scumbags are the lowest of the low.”
Rapid Response 47 wrote in another post, “@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.”
Trump himself lashed out at Holmes in a separate exchange during a meeting at the Oval Office while hosting Ryder Williams, the 16-year-old lifeguard who went viral for rescuing 10-year-old Nathaniel Rai from terrifying waves. As Holmes tried to ask another question, Trump repeatedly scolded her to be “quiet.”
“You’re very disrespectful in front of this young man. Don’t you find her disrespectful? He understands,” Trump asked the 10-year-old sitting next to him. “Who are you with?”
“I’m with CNN,” Holmes responded.
“Fake News. You’re fake news,” Trump said to Holmes. “You’re a loud, boisterous person. You’re fake news. Be quiet!… You’re a fake reporter and you report fake news!”
CNN responds
CNN later issued a statement on X, defending Holmes.
“Kristen Holmes is one of the most respected and accomplished journalists covering the White House,” CNN wrote. “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.”
“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,” the network added.
