Trump Challenges NBC Reporter, Dodges Question with Increasingly Common Tactic

President Donald Trump once again leaned on a familiar tactic during a press encounter on Monday when confronted with difficult media questions: “Who are you with?”

While addressing reporters about the expected release of 80,000 unredacted documents concerning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Trump faced inquiries regarding his recent statements criticizing his predecessor, President Joe Biden, for allegedly using an autopen during his tenure, even though he has used one in the past.

“You have criticized President Biden for using autopen in recent days. Have you yourself ever utilized autopen, sir?” a journalist inquired.

“Yes, only for very minor papers,” Trump replied, immediately contradicting his own statement. “And I don’t deem them unimportant. When you send out letters and people respond, they appreciate hearing back. I’ll sign them whenever possible, but when I can’t, I resort to using an autopen. However, to employ them for their purposes is unacceptable.”

As the journalist attempted to ask a follow-up question, Trump interrupted with: “Who are you with?”

“NBC News,” the journalist answered.

“I don’t want to engage with NBC anymore. I believe you’re highly discredited,” Trump responded sharply, dismissing the question and moving on.

Trump has alleged, without any supporting evidence, that a mechanical autopen was utilized to sign documents for Biden without his consent, contributing to the right-wing narrative regarding Biden’s supposed cognitive issues.

In a late-night social media outburst on Sunday, Trump referred to the autopen claims to argue for the invalidation of pardons granted by Biden, although questions have arisen regarding the legality of such a claim.

In recent weeks, Trump has frequently dodged challenging questions by asking, “Who are you with?” and subsequently discrediting the reporters or their media outlets rather than engaging with the questions, continuing his ongoing conflict with the media outlets that report critically on him.

He used a similar tactic to evade a question from HuffPost’s S.V. Dáte in February. Upon hearing HuffPost mentioned, he responded: “Oh, no wonder. I thought they were gone. Are they still around? I haven’t read them in years. I thought they had ceased to exist.” (HuffPost is still operational.)

Just last week, Trump denounced NBC as “one of the most appalling networks on television” — but he was promptly reminded by a reporter of his previous work with the network highlighted by his long-running reality show, “The Apprentice.”