The President of the United States, Donald Trump, called correspondent David Sanger, a reporter for the newspaper The New York Timesas “false” and accused him of providing “treasonous” coverage of the war in Iran.
Trump was irritated by a question from Sanger this Friday, 15th, aboard the presidential plane Air Force One, on his return from his visit to China, and accused the vehicle and the journalist of distorting facts about the conflict in the Middle East.
The video of the American president’s conversation with the press was published by the White House and the excerpt in which Trump interacts with the journalist is being shared on social media. It is Trump’s second attack on a member of the press this week: on Tuesday, the 12th, he called a journalist a “stupid person”.
In the conversation with Trump, Sanger asked what comes next in the conflict against Iran and how realistic the possibility of further American bombings was.
“I would like to say that at a certain time, on a certain day, the bombings will begin,” Trump responded. “But I don’t want to say that. I can only say that Iran… I can say this with very, very strong conviction: Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. A nuclear weapon. That’s not going to happen.”
The reporter insisted on the topic and then questioned what the use of the 38 days of bombing would be if, in his opinion, the president had not achieved political changes in Iran.
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“No, I did it. I had a total military victory. But the fake news press, guys like you, write incorrectly. You’re a fake guy,” Trump responded. “And guys like you write about this incorrectly. We had a total military victory. We destroyed their entire Navy. We destroyed their entire Air Force. We destroyed all their anti-aircraft systems. We destroyed all their radars.”
Trump also stated that the US eliminated all of Iran’s first and second tier leaders, as well as “several” third tier leaders. According to the president, the Iranians “are very confused”.
“We’ve had a total victory, except for people like you who don’t write the truth. Understand? I really think what you write is kind of treasonous. But you, in the The New York Timesand so on CNNI would say they are the worst. And you should know this, David. Your editors tell you what to write and you write it. You should be ashamed of yourself,” said the American president.
Trump also said that he destroyed 85% of Iran’s missile manufacturing capacity without destroying “a bridge”. “But we have bridges that we could destroy. We could destroy their bridges and their electrical capacity in two days. We could destroy everything,” he threatened.
“And then I read the New York Timesand they act as if Iran is doing fine. And everyone knows that. That’s why your subscribers have dropped a lot. He knows? Subscribers to Times they plummeted because it’s fake news,” Trump accused.
Trump calls journalist ‘stupid’
On Tuesday, the 12th, about to leave for China, Trump called a journalist ‘stupid’. “We have a ballroom (at the White House) that is under budget; it’s being built right here,” the American president explained. “I doubled the size of it because obviously we need it, and right now we’re on budget, under budget, and ahead of schedule.”
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Then, the reporter commented that the price of the work had ‘doubled.’” Trump got angry and replied: “I doubled his size, you stupid person. You can double the size. You are not an intelligent person,” he said. He also said that the US will have a “ballroom suitable for the White House.”
Trump has a history of attacking press professionals. Specifically against women, among more recent notorious cases, in November 2025 he made a series of insults to journalists: he called a reporter “stupid” while answering questions at his residence in Florida; criticized a newspaper report The New York Times who highlighted her age and increasing signs of fatigue, saying that the author of the text was “ugly”; referred to a journalist as a “little pig”; and said another reporter was “a terrible person.”
