Donald Trump had to shake off a bizarre moment when a boom microphone whacked him in the face during a press gaggle at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
Trump was addressing the media before leaving the DC-area following his speech at the Department of Justice Friday in which he slammed the press.
However, Trump was in high spirits as he got ready to leave the area and took a question about the situation in the Middle East.
All of the sudden, the reporter’s boom microphone – a mobile, soft, fuzzy but large mic that allows reporters to get sound when people are moving around – hit Trump in the mouth.
Trump had to close his eyes to avoid further contact and leaned away from the boom.
Eventually, however, he was able to see the funny side as it got moved further back from the president.
‘She just made television tonight. She just became a big story tonight,’ Trump said of the mic operator.
He asked while unable to stop from laughing: ‘Did you see that?’
Trump was praised by his supporters for how he dealt with the awkward scenario on camera.
‘A reporter just HIT President Trump with a microphone. But 47 handled it like a PRO,’ wrote one.
Others were a little more concerned that the mic was able to get so close to the president.
‘President Trump was just smacked in the face by a reporter’s boom mic. Unreal these people. Have some respect,’ said Trump booster Charlie Kirk, who added that the president handled it ‘gracefully.’
‘How on earth did a reporter get that boom mic so close to Trump’s face? This just doesn’t seem right. Security should tighten up. Embarrassing for the press,’ wrote Laura Loomer.
It came after Trump’s speech at the Department of Justice in Washington was clear that the media had been biased against him, complaining at one point that some reporting by the news media is ‘illegal.’
‘These networks and these newspapers are really no different than the highly paid political operative. And it has to stop. It has to be illegal. It is influencing judges and it is really changing law and that just cannot be illegal. I don’t believe it is legal,’ he said.
Trump specifically had it out for the cable news networks like MSNBC, which he referred to with his traditional disdain.
‘I believe that CNN and MSDNC, who literally write 97.6% bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party. And in my opinion, they are really corrupt and they are illegal. What they do is illegal.’
There were a few hundred people in the audience for his remarks – all of them ardent Trump supporters.
He often railed against the ‘weaponization’ of the government against him, referring to the federal investigations into him.
Trump has felt empowered by a Supreme Court ruling that gives presidents immunity for any act conducted while they are in office.
He has filled the Justice Department top ranks with loyalists and his own personal defense attorneys.
These include Pam Bondi, who defended him at his impeachment trial in his first term, and two of his lawyers in the porn star hush money trial that saw Trump convicted by a New York judge last year.
In one of her first directives following her confirmation, Bondi ordered DOJ officials to ‘zealously defend’ the interests of the presidency.
She escorted Trump into the department when he arrived to give his remarks. She showed him his official portrait on the wall.
‘That’s a nice picture,’ Trump said.
The president and the other speakers delivered their remarks beside a pile of boxes and packages labeled as ‘DEA Evidence.’ The podium was flanked by signs with the message: ‘Fighting Fentanyl in America.’
The packages represented 180 kgs of fentanyl, which Bondi noted could kill 90 million people – the population of Texas, California and Florida – in its pure form.
More than 200 local sheriffs, law enforcement officials, staff from Capitol Hill offices, families impacted by the fentanyl epidemic and others wearing red ‘Make America Great Again’ caps gathered to hear from Trump.
Two angel moms – families of victims killed by illegal immigrants – were also present.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senator Bill Cassidy were spotted in the crowd.
The crowd was asked to sit in the hall for hours before Trumps’ arrival, but they were provided a table of deli sandwiches, pretzels, chips and popcorn to help pass the time.
Some of Trump’s favorite rally music also filled the space with hits from Elvis, the Beach Boys, the musicals Grease and Phantom of the Opera and the Luciano Pavarotti and James Brown version of It’s A Man’s World blaring as guests waited for the president.