Overview
- Audio from Nov. 14 captured the president telling Bloomberg correspondent Catherine Lucey “Quiet, piggy” on Air Force One after a question about Epstein-related records.
- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the remark as frank and said the president does not want to execute members of Congress, arguing the lawmakers’ video urged defiance of lawful orders.
- Following a video by Democratic lawmakers reminding troops they can refuse illegal orders, the president posted that they were “traitors” and wrote “LOCK THEM UP???,” with reports noting language of “punishable by DEATH.”
- Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s office reported threatening calls and emails, and a U.S. Capitol Police officer has been assigned to her round-the-clock protection.
- Veterans, journalists, and opinion writers criticized the rhetoric as dangerous and part of a pattern targeting women journalists, with calls for Republican leaders to stop excusing such language.