US4 min(s) read
Published 13:03 08 May 2026 GMT
Donald Trump seems to have been caught in the act of shouting a slur at a female reporter after she asked about Iran.
Two lip readers believe this to be the case, as her question caused the US President to lose his cool and snap in front of the press.
It was reported by BBC earlier today (May 8) that Iran's top military command claimed that the US had targeted an Iranian oil tanker and another vessel approaching the Strait of Hormuz, along with a number of "aerial attacks".
The US also said that Iran launched missiles, drones and small boats on three of its warships in an "unprovoked attack," just one day after Iran's foreign ministry hinted that they were considering a US proposal to end the war.
Despite this exchange, Donald Trump claims that a ceasefire is still in place, though he said of Iran's actions that they "trifled with us today".
ABC's Rachel Scott asked a question that seemed to get to Trump on Thursday, as he was visiting the under-renovation Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool.
She said: "Mr President, you are here against the backdrop of a war in Iran, why focus on all these projects right now? We're still seeing gas prices soar."
Enraged, Trump replied: "You know why? Because I want to keep our country beautiful and safe, beautiful also.
"This place was a disgusting place, it was Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and we had a terrible, I don't know you probably don't see dirt but I do."
That wasn't all though, as The Mirror US reports that he further added: "Such a stupid question you ask. We're fixing up the reflecting pond to the Lincoln Memorial of the Washington Monument and you say 'Why are you fixing it up?'
"Because you can understand dirt maybe better than I can but I don't allow it. This is one of the worst reporters. She's with ABC fake news and she's a horror show."
He then called the question a "disgrace to our country," and after he was done asking questions, cameras caught the President pointing towards the reporters, saying something to his team, and then shaking his head.
While no microphones picked up what he said, two professional lip readers said that it was a continuation of his attack on the journalist.
Camera footage suggests that the US leader called the reporter a "b***h", as a qualified forensic expert witness lip reader named Jeremy Freeman confirmed.
He explained: "I can confirm that Trump said, 'She’s a b***h there.'"
Freeman, who was born deaf, relies primarily on lip reading - and he's not alone in seeing Trump direct some not-so-nice words towards the journalist.
Nicola Hickling, another lip reader who is profoundly deaf, concluded that while it is hard to be certain about a word like that, "due to the context of what was said beforehand, I believe Trump says the word b***h."
She did caveat this by explaining that some speech sounds "share identical or near identical mouth movements, known as visemes," explaining that the word in question behinds with the B sound, but this also could be perceived as a P or an M
But in "b***h," the middle vowel is less distinctive than "pitch," with the final "ch" sound also "partially visible through slight lip tension and narrowing of the mouth."
She explained that expert lipreading doesn't rely only on mouth shape - context, dacial expression, body language, and other factors play a role too.
Journalist Rachel Scott commented on the incident online, posting the clip and writing: "I asked the president why focus on these projects now amid the backdrop of the war in Iran and as gas prices soar,
"He said the question was 'stupid' and a 'disgrace to the country' saying he’s 'fixing' the reflecting pool," she added.
Those online weren't best pleased either, as one user wrote: "Gold ballrooms, arcs, Bibles, treason planes from our adversaries costing American tax payers $1 billion, Trump coins/money, crypto and now his phony, ugly ass on our passports. All this while Americans are suffering, gas/grocery prices are at their highest. Trump is the b***h."
Another penned: "As a country, we’ve become really desensitized to how much of an embarrassment Trump is on a daily basis.
"Obama wore a tan suit, and it was a scandal on cable news for a week," one X user wrote."
A third added: "Disinhibition, so his true self is shining through in more public settings."
