Trump Rejects Claim He Enjoys Press Gaggles, Cites Media Bias in Fox News Interview

President Donald Trump rejected the idea that he enjoys press gaggles, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity that his interactions with journalists are purely strategic.

During their Thursday evening interview on Hannity, Hannity suggested Trump might derive enjoyment from these sessions. He noted that the American public watches the president’s interactions with the media “almost daily.”

“And I think you enjoy it,” Hannity said. “You bring them in, you have gaggles. You keep them there for a long period of time.”

Trump interrupted, clarifying, “It’s not that I enjoy [it].”

Hannity pressed further, asking, “You don’t enjoy it?” Trump responded, “No. Every question’s a kill, you know? They are always going for the kill, every question. You see these people with the hatred.”

He added, “I say, ‘You have such hatred when you ask that question. Why? Because I have a strong border, a good military? Why do you have such hatred?’ The whole thing is crazy.”

Trump emphasized that his participation in press gaggles is to “get the word out,” implying he does not derive personal satisfaction from them.

While praising Fox News as “great,” Trump criticized other media outlets, particularly The New York Times. He claimed its coverage of Iran misrepresents reality, stating, “If you read The New York Times, you’d actually think we are losing or not doing well in Iran.”

He also targeted CNN, calling it “destroyed,” and MSNBC, which he claimed had “no ratings.”

Trump’s remarks are part of a broader pattern of criticism toward legacy media. In March, he condemned The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal for publishing what he described as “a lot of bad stories.”

“We have to straighten out our media,” Trump said at the time. “The New York Times circulation, you know, has gone way down. The Washington Post is almost extinct.”

Trump has also taken legal action against multiple media outlets, including The New York Times, the BBC, and the Des Moines Register. His rhetoric has frequently targeted female reporters, using terms like “nasty,” “piggy,” “terrible,” “ugly,” and “incapable.”

Last year, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson defended Trump’s approach, stating, “President Trump has never been politically correct, never holds back, and in large part, the American people re-elected him for his transparency.”