Donald Trump called a US journalist a “sick woman” after she suggested he had radicalised “more people than Isis”.
The president lashed out at GQ correspondent Julia Ioffe for comments made during a CNN panel discussion.
Ms Ioffe had said: “This president, one of the things that he really launched his presidential run on is talking about Islamic radicalisation. This president has radicalised so many more people than Isis ever did.”
She later apologised for the “hyperbole”, saying she had been speaking “in the heat of the moment”.
“I clarified and apologised on air, but I’ll say it again here,” the journalist tweeted. “This has been a very emotional and painful time, but I absolutely should not have gone with such hyperbole on the air. I apologise.”
Asked Ms Ioffe’s during an interview on Fox News, Mr Trump said: “Well that must be some kind of a sick woman.”
He then defended his repeated attacks on the media, who he regularly refers to as “the enemy of the people” and “fake news”.
While Ms Ioffe apologised for her “exaggerated” comment, she also pointed out antisemitic attacks had surged since Mr Trump entered the White House.
The journalist, who is Jewish, said: “It is not a coincidence that the number of antisemitic attacks has jumped nearly 60 per cent in 2017—the biggest one-year increase in recent history—while this administration has systematically pulled back resources from countering domestic extremism.”
