Watch out Melania! Donald gets flirty in the Oval Office with ‘beautiful’ Irish reporter
DONALD Trump was accused of sexism yesterday after he appeared to flirt with a female reporter in the Oval Office.
The US President interrupted a phone call with incoming Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Tuesday to compliment Caitriona Perry’s ‘nice smile’.
After congratulating Mr Varadkar on his victory, Mr Trump told him: ‘We have a lot of your Irish Press watching us.’
He then asked Miss Perry, Washington correspondent for broadcaster RTE: ‘And where are you from? Go ahead, come here. Where are you from? We have all of this beautiful Irish Press. Where are you from?’
He beckoned her over to his desk and asked the 37-yearold journalist again, ‘Where are you from?’ and she introduced herself, laughing.
Mr Trump told the Irish leader: ‘She has a nice smile on her face so I bet she treats you well.’
His treatment of Miss Perry drew criticism online, where some described it as ‘awkward’ and ‘creepy’, doubting whether he would have said the same to a male reporter.
One critic tweeted: ‘There are simply no words to describe how violated I feel for her.’
Others countered that the President was just being friendly. ‘Why can’t men compliment females without being deplored? It’s just being nice,’ asked a male Twitter user.
Miss Perry posted a video of the encounter on Twitter, describing it as ‘bizarre’.
She said: ‘When we went in he was already on the phone but I managed to catch his eye and he called me over.’ Last year, a leaked recording from 2005 showed Mr Trump boasting of groping women and at least 15 came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct, claims he denied.
Mr Varadkar, 38, is the son of an Indian immigrant and Ireland’s first openly gay leader.