Washington: Donald Trump lashed out at an ABC News reporter on Tuesday, only days after he called another female journalist “piggy” for asking about his refusal to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The latest confrontation occurred during a White House visit by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. ABC correspondent Mary Bruce pressed Trump on potential conflicts of interest involving the Trump family business and its dealings with Saudi partners. She also questioned the crown prince directly about the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, telling him: “US intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist, 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office. Why should Americans trust you?”

Trump cut her off sharply. “ABC fake news. One of the worst in the business,” he said, insisting he has “nothing to do” with the Trump Organization, which is run by his two eldest sons. The business had announced a new resort deal in the Maldives with a Saudi developer the day before.

Defending Prince Mohammed, Trump told Bruce: “You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that,” despite US intelligence findings that the Saudi leader had approved the operation that led to Khashoggi’s death.

Tensions escalated further when Bruce asked about the release of Epstein-related documents. Congress voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to compel the Department of Justice to make the files public. Trump snapped back: “It’s not the question that I mind. It’s your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter.” He repeated that he had “nothing to do” with Epstein, branding the scandal a “hoax” and telling Bruce: “Your crappy company is one of the perpetrators.”

Trump then urged the head of the US broadcast regulator to “look at” revoking ABC’s licence and declared: “No more questions from you.”

The clash came shortly after another incident involving Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey, who had asked Trump on Air Force One why he would not release Epstein files “if there’s nothing incriminating in the files.” Trump responded: “Quiet. Quiet, piggy,” according to footage that surfaced on social media on Tuesday. CNN journalist Jake Tapper condemned the remark as “disgusting and completely unacceptable.”