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During a joint press conference today with the president of Finland, President Trump appeared to mix up two women journalists who were sitting next to one another.
Early on in the event, which was held at the White House, Trump took a question about Russia from Paula Vilén, a reporter from the Finnish Broadcasting Company, Finland’s public broadcasting service. About 10 minutes later, Sauli Niinistö, the Finnish president, called on a different female reporter, Maria Annala.
“Again?” Trump asked, apparently mistaking her for the same woman who had spoken earlier. “You’re going to give her — the same one?”
“No, they are not the same lady,” explained Niinistö, visibly uncomfortable. “They are sitting side by side.”
“We have a lot of blonde women in Finland,” the reporter helpfully added.
You can watch the whole exchange below.
Trump has a history of treating female reporters differently than male ones, as Alana Abramson notes at Fortune. He repeatedly called Katy Tur of NBC News “Little Katy.” In June, he commented that Caitriona Perry of Ireland RTE had a “nice smile.”
Video of the bizarre moment when President @realDonaldTrump called me over during his call with Taoiseach @campaignforLeo Varadkar. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/TMl2SFQaji
— Caitriona Perry (@CaitrionaPerry) June 27, 2017
And, of course, he famously opined that Megyn Kelly of Fox News had “blood coming out of her ... wherever” when she moderated a Republican presidential primary debate.
Just for reference, here are the two female reporters from today’s press conference, pictured together:
THIS. The Finnish journalists @potus had trouble telling apart. They are def. 2 diff. people. So glad I met @maria_annala + @vilenpaula. pic.twitter.com/gthZWwiiJa
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) August 28, 2017
Note that one is wearing red while the other is wearing black. Also, they are different women.
