Donald Trump has accused a star ABC journalist of ‘hurting Australia’ during a fiery clash days out from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese‘s scheduled trip to the US.
John Lyons, the national broadcaster’s newly-minted Americas editor, was among members of the press who gathered to greet Trump on the White House lawn on Tuesday morning local time ahead of a state visit to Britain.
Things turned adversarial when Lyons asked Trump about his private business dealings since resuming office for his second term. This prompted Trump to wax lyrical on his plans for a new White House State Ballroom, which he is helping fund.
‘But is it appropriate, President Trump, that a president in office should be engaged in so much business activity?’ Lyons asked.
Trump addressed the reporter as ‘John’ before he answered: ‘Well, I’m really not, my kids are running the businesses’. He then asked: ‘Where are you from?’
‘I’m from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, with the Four Corners program,’ Lyons answered.
Trump’s demeanor appeared to shift: ‘In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now and they want to get along with me.
‘You know, your leader is coming over to see me very soon. I’m going to tell him about you, you set a very bad tone.’
Trump unleashed on an Australian reporter on the White House lawn after he was quizzed on his business dealings while in office
The ABC’s John Lyon’s was accused of ‘hurting Australia’ by Trump
Trump warned that he would tell Anthony Albanese at their upcoming meeting he was displeased with Lyons
The exchange began when Lyons asked Trump how much wealthier he had become since resuming office.
Trump answered his kids were running his business and that ‘most of the deals’ he had made occurred before he resumed the presidency.
The altercation casts a dim light on the long awaited meeting between the Australian Prime Minister and President Trump.
Albanese will fly to New York this weekend for the UN General Assembly where he hopes to secure his first face-to-face meeting with the US President.
He will have three days next week to meet with the President since Trump will be attending the funeral of activist Charlie Kirk in Arizona on Sunday.
Trump’s acknowledgement that the pair would meet during the exchange with Lyons is the strongest signal the meeting will indeed go ahead.
The pair are expected to meet either on the sidelines of the UN meeting in New York or at the White House, before Albanese then travels on to London for a meeting with the UK Prime Minister.
Lyons was appointed Americas editor at the ABC in March after serving as the broadcaster’s global affairs editor.
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