ABC News Washington chief correspondent Jonathan Kahl recalled one specific meeting with President Donald Trump when asked if the president had ever made him “concerned” for his safety.
In an interview with comedian Hasan Minhaj released Wednesday, Carr mentioned an exchange with Trump in September. While standing with other reporters on the South Lawn, Kahl asked the president about comments made by Attorney General Pam Bondi after the assassination of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“What do you think about Pam Bundy saying she’s going to go after hate speech? I mean, a lot of people, a lot of your allies say hate speech is free speech,” Carr said, according to video of the interaction.
Trump responded: “She’s probably going to go after people like you because you’ve been so unfair to me. It’s hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart.”
“Is that appropriate?” Karl could be heard responding in the background, as Trump continued, “Maybe they’re going to go after ABC. ABC recently paid me $16 million for some form of hate speech, right? Your company paid me $16 million for some form of hate speech, so maybe they’re going to have to go after you.”
In his comments, the president appeared to refer to ABC News’s agreement in December 2024 to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit against anchor George Stephanopoulos over comments he made about Trump.
Kahl said he asked the president a “very simple question” and called his initial response a “shocking moment.”
“So the president of the United States suggesting that the power of the Department of Justice could be used against journalists who the president believes is being unfair — that’s a very interesting reading of the First Amendment,” Carr said.
In the interview with Minhaj, Carr also discussed how a theme of Trump’s reelection campaign has been his vow to “go after” his perceived political enemies. He noted that he pardoned the Jan. 6 rioters on the first day of his second term and “eviscerated” the FBI and Justice Department.
“No one in the White House right now is telling Donald Trump, ‘Look, sir, we really shouldn’t be doing this,'” Carr said. “I mean, people give him advice, but the people around him seem to follow orders.”
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