President Donald Trump ripped apart ABC News’ Martha Raddatz on Sunday, dropped a clever new nickname that played off the influence on the recent election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope in history.
Trump fired off on an exchange between Raddatz and senior correspondent Terry Moran on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” where they discussed whether Trump’s presidency influenced the papal selection.
“The question that we had was how much did the American moment with President Trump matter?” Moran had asked church insiders at the Vatican. “They’re telling us not at all. It was him (the pope) that mattered.”
“And that’s what we’ve been hearing this morning,” Raddatz agreed. “It was him.”
Trump blasted Raddatz and her ABC News team as the “old timer” crew for commenting on things that had nothing to do with him.
“So funny to watch old timer Martha Raditz on ABC Fake News (the Slopadopolus show!) this morning, blurt out that, effectively, Pope Leo’s selection had nothing to do with Donald Trump. It came out of nowhere, but it was on her Trump Deranged Mind.”
“Remember, I did WIN the Catholic Vote, by a lot!” he said, pointing out that Catholic voters shifted significantly toward Republicans in the 2024 election.
The criticism comes amid ongoing tensions between Trump and ABC News.
During a recent interview on his first 100 days in office, Trump had a contentious exchange with Moran over her attacks.
He told Moran she was “not being very nice” and added, “I picked you because, frankly, I never heard of you but that’s OK.”
Earlier in the day, Raddatz had led Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, in a question on whether Pope Leo XIV would serve as “a counterbalance for what’s happening in American politics right now and President Trump.”
Cupich responded that the Pope would “help complete and complement our political agenda” and would “talk a lot about the immigrants as well because he knows about the sufferings of people and the real needs that they have for a better life.”