--- description: President Donald Trump has come under criticism for singling out a female reporter while speaking by phone with the Irish Prime Minister title: President Trump Tells Female Reporter She Has a 'Nice Smile' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86eb3bcd54445462/6988d3a38fd2ee03db357c1a/gettyimages-802041584.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [White House](/tag/white-house/) ## White House Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # President Trump Was on a Diplomatic Call. He Paused It to Single Out a Female Reporter by [Ryan Kilpatrick](/author/ryan-kilpatrick/) ## Ryan Kilpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 28, 2017 6:15 AM CUT  President Donald Trump waits to speak on the phone with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in the Oval Office on June 27, 2017. President Donald Trump waits to speak on the phone with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in the Oval Office on June 27, 2017.Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images by [Ryan Kilpatrick](/author/ryan-kilpatrick/) ## Ryan Kilpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 28, 2017 6:15 AM CUT U.S. President Donald Trump has come under criticism for singling out a female reporter while speaking by phone with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, telling him the journalist “has a nice smile on her face.” Caitriona Perry, the U.S. bureau chief for Ireland’s RTÉ News, was called over to Trump’s Oval Office desk just after he told Varadkar that “we have a lot of your Irish press watching us right now,” the Hill [reports](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/339701-trump-praises-female-reporters-nice-smile-on-call-to-irish-pm "undefined"). “Come here, come here. Where are you from? We have all of this beautiful Irish press,” Trump said, pointing at Perry and signaling for her to approach his desk. “Caitriona Perry. She has a nice smile on her face, so I bet she treats you well,” the President said to Varadkar. Perry later tweeted a video of the exchange, describing the encounter as “bizarre.” > [](https://twitter.com/CaitrionaPerry/status/879804904696496128) Social media users were quick to cry foul, some calling Trump’s behavior “creepy,” others saying the remarks amounted to sexual harassment. > [](https://twitter.com/funder/status/879875202599051268) > [](https://twitter.com/BrendanNyhan/status/879888620026552320) \[[The Hill](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/339701-trump-praises-female-reporters-nice-smile-on-call-to-irish-pm "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4836149/trump-irish-reporter-nice-smile/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4836149/trump-irish-reporter-nice-smile/"},"headline":"President Trump Was on a Diplomatic Call. He Paused It to Single Out a Female Reporter","datePublished":"2017-06-28T06:15:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:20:59.549Z","description":"Some people said Trump's behavior amounted to sexual harassment","url":"https://time.com/4836149/trump-irish-reporter-nice-smile/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86eb3bcd54445462/6988d3a38fd2ee03db357c1a/gettyimages-802041584.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Kilpatrick","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-kilpatrick/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86eb3bcd54445462/6988d3a38fd2ee03db357c1a/gettyimages-802041584.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-IRELAND-POLITICS","caption":"US-IRELAND-POLITICS","creditText":"Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4836149/trump-irish-reporter-nice-smile/","name":"President Trump Was on a Diplomatic Call. He Paused It to Single Out a Female Reporter"}}]}] ```