Trump calls Independent reporter a “sick person” in Oval Office as White House account posts slur

US President Donald Trump repeatedly rebuked a White House correspondent during an Oval Office event on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, warning him to “be careful” and asking whether he was “a sick person”.

The reporter, Andrew Feinberg of The Independent, had questioned the president about a newly announced scheme that pays members of the public for tips on government fraud.

Within hours, an official White House social media account and the official account of Vice President JD Vance posted clips of the exchange, accompanied by personal insults directed at Feinberg.

A day later, according to Semafor’s Maxwell Tani, the White House told Feinberg without explanation that he would no longer serve as print pool reporter on the president’s Thursday trip to Sioux City, Iowa.

A new fraud reward scheme

The confrontation took place during the launch of the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program (WHIP), a US$25 million initiative unveiled by Trump and Vance.

According to the White House, anyone who submits a tip through Fraud.gov leading to a fraud conviction or significant federal enforcement action may receive up to US$30,000. The Department of Justice (DOJ) will administer the scheme, MPR News reported.

During the announcement, Trump said payments would work out to a 1 per cent commission on the fraud uncovered. He also said he would personally decide who receives rewards where several people claim credit for the same tip.

“I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions,” Trump said, according to American Bazaar.

The Hill reported that while the official website caps rewards at US$30,000, Trump told reporters there was “no limit” to what a person could receive.

The first award went to Nick Shirley, a conservative YouTuber whose December 2025 video alleged that Minnesota day care centres were receiving public funds without providing services. CBS Minnesota reported that Shirley was presented with a US$10,000 cheque.

According to MPR News, inspectors had said the centres in question were operating as expected, though investigations, searches and arrests followed the video’s circulation.

The question that prompted the exchange

Feinberg, writing in The Independent, said he was attending as part of what the administration calls the “secondary print” element of the press pool, with the sole function of asking questions.

He said he changed his planned questions after learning about the tip line, because Shirley and others at the event had suggested that rewarding whistleblowers was new.

Feinberg pointed to the False Claims Act, a Civil War-era law that allows whistleblowers to sue on the government’s behalf to recover defrauded funds. He wrote that such whistleblowers can receive up to a quarter of what the government recovers.

He asked the president why anyone would use the administration’s tip line rather than the existing legal mechanism. According to Feinberg, Trump replied: “Because it’s a lot of money.”

Feinberg wrote that Vance then intervened, describing the question as “dishonest” and suggesting some frauds fell outside the law’s scope, a claim Feinberg disputed.

Trump then asked Feinberg who he was and which outlet he represented. Feinberg identified himself and The Independent, repeating the outlet’s name when asked again, according to Mediaite.

“You better be careful”

As the session continued, Trump appeared to point towards Feinberg more than once. Feinberg wrote that the president apparently intended to call on an Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporter standing directly behind him.

When Feinberg began to speak, Trump responded: “I don’t know who the hell you are but you better be careful,” as reported by Yahoo News.

More than ten minutes later, Feinberg tried to ask about plans for East Potomac Park in Washington, DC, including a new golf course, beginning: “President Trump, you own a lot of golf courses.”

According to Mediaite, Trump told Feinberg to be “quiet”, repeating the word more loudly, before asking: “What’s wrong with you? Are you a sick person?”

The president added: “I actually think there’s something wrong with you.” Feinberg did not finish his question.

White House account uses slur

Shortly afterwards, the White House’s Rapid Response 47 account on X shared a clip of the exchange, describing Feinberg as a “Mongoloid Moron” guilty of “disgraceful behavior”.

Feinberg described the term as a slur for people with developmental disabilities, adding that it was “a phrase I would never use”.

Jim Hudson, executive director of the National Down Syndrome Congress, said in a statement to HuffPost that such slurs are painful to people with intellectual disabilities and their families.

HuffPost reported that White House Communications Director Steven Cheung had used the same phrase about Feinberg on X in March 2026.

According to The Daily Beast, no one at the White House took responsibility for the post when asked, and officials instead referred the outlet to the president’s remarks.

Vance joins in

Vance’s official account on X also posted the clip, writing that Trump had eviscerated “imbecile ‘journalist’ Andrew Feinberg for misbehaving in the Oval Office”.

The post did not tag Feinberg. He replied on X: “Mr. Vice President, if you’re going to insult me at least have the guts to tag my account.”

Feinberg also noted on X that he had identified himself to the president only minutes before Trump said he did not know who he was.

Pool assignment withdrawn

On Wednesday, 21 October 2026, Feinberg confirmed to Semafor that the White House had removed him as print pool reporter for the president’s trip to Iowa. No reason was given, according to the report.

The print pool reporter files reports on the president’s activities for the wider press corps. Feinberg wrote that he usually fills the role about once a month.

Feinberg’s response

In his account for The Independent, Feinberg said he had covered Trump for about a decade, including in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One, and had spoken with him by phone on several occasions.

Responding to the president’s remarks about his health, he wrote that he had an annual physical earlier in the month and was “in perfect health”.

“I was doing my job, and I’ll be right back at it tomorrow,” Feinberg wrote.

Feinberg has been The Independent’s White House correspondent since 2022 and previously worked for Newsweek, according to Newsweek.