Kristen Holmes, CNN’s senior White House correspondent, was on the receiving end of vicious rhetoric from an official White House social media account after questioning President Donald Trump about his conversations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in the Oval Office on Monday.
The account said that Holmes was a “disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession.” It added that her children would someday come across her “disgusting and inhumane question” and “be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive.”
CNN was quick to release a statement in support of Holmes, saying she is “one of the most respected and accomplished journalists covering the White House.”
The statement added, “Public officials are free to challenge reporting they disagree with, but personal attacks on journalists for asking questions are beneath the office and inconsistent with the principles of a free press. We stand firmly behind Kristen and reject these attacks in the strongest possible terms.”
In the initial exchange, the president told Holmes to be quiet after she pressed him about his discussions with Jong Un. Trump said that she was being disrespectful in the presence of a White House guest. When she identified herself as a CNN reporter, he called the network “fake news” and her a “fake reporter.”
Later that day, Holmes appeared on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper and on Outfront with Erin Burnett, where the clip of the president’s attack was played.
In the segments, Holmes explained why the question about Trump’s interaction with Jong-Un and the region’s geopolitics was necessary.
