Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of US President Donald Trump, offered an unexpected admission during her latest appearance on comedian Bill Maher’s podcast Club Random. The conversation took a sharp turn when Maher brought up Trump’s widely circulated comment in which he addressed a reporter as “piggy.” Lara, who had earlier rejected claims that the incident occurred, acknowledged, “Donald Trump is not perfect.” Maher was so taken aback by her response that he briefly spit out his drink.
The controversial air force one remark
The incident in question took place earlier this month during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One. Trump addressed Bloomberg White House correspondent Catherine Lucey with the words, “quiet, piggy,” after she asked a question related to government documents tied to the late Jeffrey Epstein. At the time, Trump opposed the release of the so-called Epstein files. He later changed his position and signed a bill requiring the Justice Department to make the files public despite already having the executive authority to do so.
Comedians react to Trump’s words
Trump’s remark triggered commentary across late-night television. On his show, comedian Jimmy Kimmel quipped, “If a man spoke like that to a female coworker in a workplace harassment training video, you'd go, Ah, that's over the top. Nobody would do that.” Bill Maher also criticised the comment while speaking with Lara Trump during their conversation on Club Random.
The exchange unfolded as Maher explained his view that “woke” people are “snobs” for refusing to share Thanksgiving meals with conservatives. Lara posed a question, “What do we think we do to get the people who are the no-contact people back?” Maher replied, “Don’t do things like call a woman, ‘piggy’.” Lara responded by asking, “Do we know that happened?” Maher answered, “I saw it on tape.”
This led Lara to concede, “Donald Trump is not perfect,” though she quickly added that he “does a lot of things that I think are great.”
White House defends Trump’s conduct
Earlier, a White House representative defended Trump’s behaviour, telling The Independent that the reporter had acted in an “inappropriate and unprofessional” manner toward colleagues on the aircraft. The spokesperson added, “If you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take.”
