On Thursday Donald Trump prepared to depart Hanoi, Vietnam to return to the United States after an unsuccessful summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to get the insular nation to denuclearize completely. Before leaving, Trump gave one last press conference to reporters in attendance, and his annoyance with the tenor of the questions was apparent by the end of the presser.
Just before he left, a South Korean reporter — someone with far more at stake in the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula than even Trump himself — asked the President whether he would be willing to increase sanctions on North Korea if the end result of negotiations was not the disposal of the North Korean nuclear program.
Trump angrily dismissed the reporter’s question, refusing to let her even finish it and telling her “I don’t want to comment on that … They have a lot of great people in North Korea that have to live also, and that’s important to me.”
It was disrespectful and rude, but that’s really nothing new for Trump.
It was a little surprising, however, since he seemed so eager to please everyone in Vietnam except the American press that was present — he actually overtly kissed up to Kim Jong Un and aside from refusing to partake in the host country’s food, was deferential to nearly everyone in Hanoi.
Perhaps he was overcompensating for what he knew has been happening back here in the United States with his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen testifying before the House Oversight Committee, now controlled by the Democrats and in the thick of a major investigation.
One thing is for certain — he definitely did not want to take any questions about that.
His arch-nemesis in the American press, CNN’s Jim Acosta, tried in vain to get the President to answer the one question anyone in America even cares about after Cohen’s Wednesday testimony. Acosta shouted after Trump as he walked away, but the President, though he noticed, ignored him.
Michael Cohen said you committed a crime, can you respond to that?”
Watch as Trump coolly ignores the question and walks off the stage altogether:
Featured image via screen capture
