Reporter Trump White House Called a ‘Mongoloid Moron’ Before Booting Off Air Force One Fires Back

Screenshot via Fox News

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg fired back at President Donald Trump’s White House on Thursday after being booted from an Air Force One press pool assignment, days after an official administration account branded him a “Mongoloid Moron.”

In a fiery first-person essay, Feinberg accused the administration of retaliating against him for asking tough questions, opening his piece with a blunt declaration: “I am writing this under duress.”

The reporter was slated to accompany Trump to a Thursday rally in Sioux City, Iowa, as the designated print pool reporter aboard Air Force One. But on Wednesday evening, he received an unsigned email from the White House press office notifying him that he had been removed from the assignment without explanation.

“The anonymous email did not say why, but it was obvious that I was being punished for what happened on Tuesday,” Feinberg wrote.

During Tuesday’s Oval Office press gaggle, Trump repeatedly clashed with Feinberg after the reporter asked about his administration’s plan to offer a 1% commission to whistleblowers who uncover federal fraud, warning him that he “better be careful” before asking, “Are you a sick person?” and declaring, “I actually think there’s something wrong with you.”

Later that day, the official White House “Rapid Response 47” account posted, “@POTUS absolutely roasts Mongoloid Moron @AndrewFeinberg for his disgraceful behavior,” a term historically applied to Indigenous people from parts of Asia and later to people with Down syndrome, with both usages now widely considered outdated and offensive.

Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, labeled the reporter an “imbecile.”

“Apparently the bullying wasn’t enough because I did not take it quietly,” Feinberg wrote for The Independent on Thursday, referring to his clapbacks to the Vance social media post mentioned above and his original article on the matter.

“Even though the White House might insist that they are simply acting to preserve decorum around the president, they’re really trying to create a safe space where the boss won’t get uncomfortable follow-ups from reporters,” he added.

“I’m not there to be friendly with this president or administration. And guess what? I wasn’t there to be friendly with the last one, either,” Feinberg concluded.

Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, stood behind the reporter, writing Wednesday that the organization “strongly objects to the decision to restrict a journalist’s coverage simply because the president didn’t care for their questioning,” and calling the move “retaliation.”

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