President Donald Trump called a reporter “rotten” on Wednesday after she pointed out that his former attorney general, Bill Barr, disagreed with his claims about election fraud in the 2020 presidential race.
During a press event outside the White House, a reporter from PBS named Liz Landers asked Trump about the FBI getting a grand jury subpoena for Arizona election records related to a probe into the 2020 election.
The FBI had also taken records from Georgia connected to the same election.
“Sir, in Arizona, why did the FBI seize election records in that state?” Landers asked Trump on Wednesday.
“Well, they probably thought the election was rigged, right?” Trump responded.
Landers then reminded him that Bill Barr, his former attorney general, found there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election that would have changed the outcome, despite the president’s long-held belief there was.
“It wasn’t rigged, though,” Landers told the president.
“Oh, really? Who — how do you know?” Trump asked.
“Your own attorney general in 2020 said that there was not measurable voter fraud to change the outcome of the election,” Landers said.
“You don’t think it was rigged? I think it was rigged!” Trump said.
“Sir, where’s the evidence of that?” Landers asked.
“If you think it wasn’t rigged, you’re a rotten reporter!” Trump said before moving on.
I asked @POTUS about the FBI reportedly seizing election records in Arizona. He said they must have done that because it was a “rigged” election. I pointed out to him that his own AG said there was not measurable voter fraud to overturn that election pic.twitter.com/fGnfxTH3HO
— Liz Landers (@ElizLanders) March 11, 2026
Earlier, Trump had praised the Arizona news outlet, calling it “great” on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump and Barr had a conflict because of Trump’s claims about election fraud.
Barr told NBC News in 2022 that he challenged Trump over his claims and called them “bulls**t,” saying his team was wrong to spread them. Barr said Trump became very angry in response.
Trump later got Barr’s support in 2024, but Trump mocked him and said Barr had “let down” people by not properly investigating election fraud.
Trump posted on Truth Social, “Wow!
Former A.G. Bill Barr, who let a lot of great people down by not investigating Voter Fraud in our Country, has just Endorsed me for President despite the fact that I called him ‘Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy’ (New York Post!). Based on the fact that I greatly appreciate his wholehearted Endorsement, I am removing the word ‘Lethargic’ from my statement.”
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