Trump clashes with Australian journalist over business deals in office

Donald Trump has accused an Australian journalist of “hurting Australia” after he was asked about his business deals while in office.

John Lyons from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) asked Trump how much wealthier he had become since returning to the White House in January during Trump’s state visit to the UK.

“I don’t know,” Trump replied, saying his children handled the businesses. He added that he would tell Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about Lyons, adding “you set a very bad tone”.

On Thursday, ABC said it was informed by the UK prime minister’s press office that there was no longer space for it to attend a joint news conference with Trump and Sir Keir Starmer.

In a statement, ABC said it was still accredited to attend the prime minister’s country residence, Chequers, where Trump is meeting Sir Keir for talks on Thursday, but that it “no longer has a spot at the joint press conference” due to “logistical reasons”.

The statement added there was “no indication” this was connected to Lyons’ questions.

Wednesday’s interaction between Lyons and Trump saw the US leader hold his index finger to his lips before saying “quiet” and moving away to speak to another journalist when Lyons tried to ask another question.

Trump also told Lyons he was going to be meeting Albanese “very soon”, adding, “I’m going to tell him about you”.

For months, Albanese has been seeking a meeting with the US president after talks between the pair were cancelled at the last-minute when Trump left the G20 summit in June earlier than expected to deal with the war in the Middle East.

Albanese – who will be in the US for the UN General Assembly next week – had earlier told ABC radio that he and Trump would “see each other in New York”.

“He’s hosting a reception on Tuesday night of next week. And as well, we’ll see each other at various forums that are taking place between now and the end of the year.”

In recent months, US-Australia relations have become strained since the Trump administration announced a review into Aukus, a major submarine deal worth £176bn ($239bn; A$368bn) between the US, UK and Australia which was signed in 2021.

In April, Australia was also hit with a tariff of at least 10% on all exports to the US, which Albanese said was “not the act of a friend”.

Lyons said after the terse response from Trump that it was an “absurd notion” that asking legitimate questions politely would hurt relations between the long-time allies.

“For me, it was a perfectly normal thing to do to ask questions that I don’t think were provocative,” he told the ABC, adding his enquiries were fair, based on research and not asked in an abusive way.

The ABC said his questions were part of an investigation by their Four Corners programme looking into Trump’s business dealings since returning to office.

Shortly after the tense exchange, a social media post on an official White House account showing the response was captioned: Trump “smacks down a rude foreign Fake News loser”.