Trump slams Time staff during interview for not asking ‘one f‑‑‑ing positive question’

President Trump slammed Time’s staff during a lengthy interview published Thursday, where he ripped into them for not asking him “one f‑‑‑ing positive question.”

He was asked about Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) returning to the Senate after months away while recuperating from a fall he suffered at home in June, and whether the lawmaker should resign due to his condition. But the president appeared to still be answering a previous question about pardoning members of his Cabinet if Democrats retake Congress in November.

“It was a disappointment to a lot of Republicans. So that’s just –– well, Sleepy Joe gave pardons to everybody. He gave them to Fauci,” Trump said, referring to former President Biden and former White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci. “He gave them to this.”

“But you mean I’m not allowed to give them, but Sleepy Joe’s allowed to give them?” Trump asked. “This ain’t gonna be much of a story. Here we are doing this. You haven’t asked me one f‑‑‑ing positive question. All of this. What about this? What about that? What about that? What about this? All negative.”

He shifted to reacting to previous questions about the condition of the White House, saying that it leaked when it rained and people were “walking under –– crap was falling off it all the time.”

“Now it’s perfect, and I would say that I should be given credit for fixing the White House because I’m also doing very well with the war,” he said. “I’m doing very well with another war that we already won, Venezuela. Do you notice you haven’t asked me a question about Venezuela?”

Reporters pushed back, saying he asked about the Latin American country earlier in the interview. Trump was asked about his meeting with Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez at the United Nations General Assembly and whether they talked about holding elections in her country, though he mentioned the country earlier in the discussion.

“No, but I’m just thinking to myself, ‘fake news.’ But I have a lot of respect. I like the owner, good guy. But I don’t understand. I’m sitting here. I’ve done all this stuff,” Trump said, before adding that he made the White House “beautiful again.”

The interview touched on a wide array of issues, from the midterm elections to his immigration agenda. He told the staffers he has not ruled out demolishing the Kennedy Center as he fights to keep his name on the building in court, and he refused to rule out invoking the Insurrection Act around the midterms.

The president has lashed out at the press before, but the remarks come amid his ongoing tensions with CNN by barring its reporters from joining the White House press pool. The latest successful attempt to do so on Thursday comes after a federal judge lifted a ban Trump implemented on the outlet, Politico and MS NOW from covering his administration.

Trump banned all three outlets two weeks ago from working from the White House over what he called their publishing of “fake news.” He and Attorney General Todd Blanche have argued it could amount to a national security issue regarding U.S. relations with other nations. Blanche suggested that reporting on the president “doesn’t have to be good” or all positive, but Trump blasted the outlets for “negative” coverage.

“Fake News people and publications that only write negatively, and who violate our National Security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown ‘sources,’ shouldn’t be allowed access to the most important Office anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote on Truth Social the day he banned the outlets.

The move ignited backlash from lawmakers, news outlets like Fox News and free speech advocates. Former White House Correspondents’ Association president Weijia Jiang told Fox News that an attack on the three outlets was “ an attack on everyone. “