President Donald Trump clashed with an Australian journalist at a White House news conference on Tuesday, telling ABC Americas editor John Lyons that he would inform Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that Lyons was “hurting Australia.” The exchange came after Lyons asked the president about his private business activities since returning to office.
Lyons asked how much wealthier Trump had become since his reelection and whether it was appropriate for a sitting president to be engaged in extensive business activity. Trump replied that he did not know and said his children were running the business, adding that many of his deals had been completed before he became president. He said he had “built buildings” and referenced plans for a new White House ballroom that he insisted would “knock your socks off.” When Lyons identified himself as an ABC reporter and attempted a follow-up, Trump said, “Quiet,” and told him, “Oh, the Australian — you’re hurting Australia. In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now.”
After the exchange Lyons called the interaction part of a broader “war on the media,” saying journalists’ responsibility to “hold truth to power” includes asking presidents legitimate questions politely. Lyons also referenced news that Trump filed a $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times, saying the actions he cited illustrate an increasingly hostile environment for reporters.
The White House amplified the confrontation online. An official administration account reposted video of the exchange on X with a caption that referred to Lyons as a “rude foreign Fake News loser.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office posted the same clip on X in defense of the Australian journalist, saying allies “deserve respect, not intimidation.”
Lyons, a Washington-based reporter who previously edited the Sydney Morning Herald and worked at several Australian outlets, said he hoped the line of questioning would not prevent him from gaining access to the White House, calling such an outcome “a very dark day.” The Trump administration continued to criticize Lyons on social media after the briefing.
Albanese is scheduled to travel to New York next week for the United Nations General Assembly. The two leaders have not met since winning their respective elections, and a proposed one-on-one meeting was abandoned earlier this year after Trump left the G7 summit early. The brief confrontation adds friction to the lead-up to that visit but does not in itself indicate whether the leaders will hold bilateral talks on the margins of the U.N. gathering.
The exchange is part of a sustained, contentious relationship between the White House and portions of the news media, a dynamic that has included legal actions by the president, public rebukes of reporters and disputes over access. The incident on Tuesday drew swift comment from political figures and media organizations and is likely to shape media attention as Albanese plans his trip to the United States.