Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The Ogle Office
‘Sexist’ Trump blasted over behaviour towards RTE reporter in White House call to Taoiseach
AMERICANS have slammed Donald Trump over his “deplorable” and “sexist “behaviour towards an RTE reporter yesterday. It comes after a video of him in the Oval Office beckoning Caitriona Perry and complimenting her “nice smile” and the “beautiful Irish press” went viral. At the time Trump was speaking to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar by telephone. RTE’S Washington correspondent initially seemed to laugh off the incident but later described it as “bizarre”. But many US news outlets and social media users were appalled and Twitter blew up with users describing the exchange as “creepy”. Bloomberg broadcaster Meghan Murphy yesterday said the behaviour “is offensive on every level” and “he owes her an apology”. Speaking on US current affairs programme MSNBC, she said: “I don’t even know where to begin with that. First of all, that’s a major broadcaster in Ireland, it’s the equivalent of the BBC. This is an incredibly respected reporter. “It’s offensive as a woman, it’s offensive as a journalist.” Meanwhile, Twitter went into meltdown with user Christine Canning, commenting: “Ms Perry please accept this apology from at least one female American.” Another wrote: “Here’s a second apology. I couldn’t understand what he said.” While another added: “I’m sorry our President treated you this way.” Caitriona’s RTE colleague Cathal Mac Coille tweeted: “Grace under pressure, perfect example.” During the awkward exchange Trump told Caitriona the Taoiseach had said “thanks for the newspapers”. There was some confusion from onlookers as she works for RTE, a broadcaster, not a publisher. However, she explained there was a simple explanation as she sent back the New York Times and The Washington Post for Mr Varadkar and his family the day after he became Taoiseach. She said: “I do that often when there is a reference to someone I know from home who is featured in the newspapers here.” On the Trump exchange, Caitriona added: “One minute we were outside the window and the next minute I’m meeting the President of the United States. “When we went in he was already on the phone but I managed to catch his eye and he called me over.” Caitriona said she did not expect to be allowed inside the White House to report on the call to Mr Varadkar. During it the President calls her over to his desk, saying to Mr Varadkar: “We have a lot of your Irish press watching us right now. “We have all of this Irish, beautiful Irish press here. Where are you from? Come here, come here. “She has a nice smile on her face so I bet she treats you well. He thanks you for the newspapers, Caitriona.”