Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
- A former aide to President Donald Trump yelled at a journalist in the Rose Garden after the president announced a new executive order.
- Sebastian Gorka screamed in the face of Playboy’s White House reporter Brian Karem, shouting, "You’re not a journalist! You’re a punk!"
- The confrontation was caught on camera and stunned some onlookers as some chanted, "Gorka! Gorka!"
- Another onlooker said that Gorka could "kick your punk a–," according to a tweet from New York Times reporter Katie Rogers.
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Sebastian Gorka, a former aide to President Donald Trump, threw a tantrum in the Rose Garden on Thursday and yelled at a journalist as supporters egged him on.
Gorka screamed in the face of Playboy’s White House reporter Brian Karem, shouting, "You’re not a journalist! You’re a punk!"
It’s not entirely clear what led up to this confrontation, but some reports suggested Gorka was being mocked by reporters prior to his outburst.
The brief spat occurred after President Donald Trump announced an executive order that instructed federal agencies to provide the Commerce Department with citizenship data in lieu of including a citizenship question on the 2020 census, which the Trump administration had previously and controversially pushed for.
Earlier in the day, Trump held a conservative-heavy social media summit that Gorka attended.
The incident, which gathered a lot of attention from those in attendance, was caught on camera by onlookers from several angles.
In one video, a bystander could be heard saying Gorka should not be "attacking journalists like this." Meanwhile, someone seems to yell that Gorka could "kick your punk a–," according to New York Times reporter Katie Rogers.
Gorka was a deputy assistant to the president for less than a year after formerly serving as a surrogate on Trump’s campaign.
A controversial figure with alleged ties to far-right groups in Europe, Gorka was reportedly forced out of the White House.
Gorka, also a former Fox News contributor, now hosts a conservative radio show and is well-known among reporters for blocking them on Twitter. Gorka told Steve Herman a reporter for Voice of America that he blocked 16,000 people on Twitter.
See Also:
- Trump just took executive action to get around obstacles to adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census
- Trump reportedly refused to sign a 2018 spending bill unless Paul Ryan let him build suspense over it on Twitter
- Trump’s assistant Madeleine Westerhout was reportedly crying and ‘inconsolable’ on election night 2016 — but now says she’d do almost anything for Trump
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (John Haltiwanger)