A reporter for the Washington Post said she was deeply affronted by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump complimenting her appearance.
Trump went to the Post office in Washington, D.C., on Monday for an interview with the paper’s editorial board. One of the board members, Karen Attiah, wrote that on the way out of the meeting, she thanked Trump and that he responded, “I really hope I answered your question, beautiful.”
Trump, 69, is regularly accused of sexism by his critics and of taking an inappropriate tone with women, especially women reporters.
“I was stunned,” Attiah wrote of her encounter. “I didn’t say thank you, and I don’t think I smiled. He then walked out to meet with my Post colleagues briefly before heading to the elevator. I stayed in the conference room for a few minutes as it sunk in that the potential GOP nominee for president thought it was okay to comment on my appearance. Did he just say that?”
“In Trump’s world,” she theorized, “commenting on a woman’s appearance in a professional setting is fair game.”
In the editorial board meeting, Attiah had asked Trump if he would “run on and/or govern on a message of racial inclusion.”
She transcribed his answer, which included a reference to how well Trump thinks he will do with black voters, but she suggested that it was irrelevant to how she felt.
“At least now I know, firsthand, that the sexism that Trump puts on display against [Fox News anchor] Megyn Kelly under the lights of national TV is not that much different from how he is in real life toward female journalists,” she wrote.
Attiah did not return a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
