Trump accuses ABC journalist of ‘hurting Australia’ and says he’ll report him to Albanese
- Written by: Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
It doesn’t take much for a journalist to get under Donald Trump’s skin. When the ABC’s United States correspondent John Lyons started questioning the president during a Washington “doorstop” about his business dealings while in office, the response was both full-on and petty.
Lyons was trying to get answers for a coming ABC Four Corners program.
He asked how much wealthier Trump was now than when he re-entered office and “Is it appropriate, President Trump, that a president in office should be engaged in so much business activity?”
Trump said that “my kids are running the business”, and mostly the deals were done before he took office.
Turning on Lyons, he asked where he was from.
When Lyons replied he was from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation – Four Corners, the president let loose.
“In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now. And they want to get along with me.
"You know, your leader is coming over to see me very soon. I’m going to tell him about you. You set a very bad tone”.
When Lyons tried to continue, Trump said “Quiet”.
The White House followed up with a post on its official response account. “POTUS smacks down a rude foreign Fake News loser (many such cases): ‘Quiet.’”
Albanese is set to have his long-sought first meeting with Trump next week on the sidelines of the United Nations leaders week. Trump’s reference to it is the first time it has been officially confirmed.
The Albanese government has been trying to clear obstacles ahead of the meeting. With the Americans pressing Australia to increase its defence spending from about 2% of GDP at present to 3.5%, defence announcements have preceded the meeting.
At the weekend the government announced $12 billion in investment over a decade in a naval facility in Western Australia.
Defence Minister Richard Marles also argues Australia is spending more than 2% on defence according to a different measure.
“There are different measures around the world of percentages of GDP. I mean, if you look at the way in which NATO accounts for its own spending in terms of percentage of GDP, based on that metric, our spending on GDP today in terms of defence is around 2.8%,” he said at the weekend.
Given how some other leaders have been treated when meeting Trump, there has been some nervousness in the Prime Minister’s Office about the initial face-to-face encounter between the president and the prime minister.
The planned Four Corners’ program adds a fresh potential irritant.
The ABC said: “John Lyons is a highly awarded journalist and one of the most experienced and respected reporters in Australia. His job is to ask questions. He has the ABC’s full support.”
