White House responds after Trump said 'quiet piggy' to reporter during interview

The White House has issued a response after Donald Trump called a reporter aboard Air Force One a 'piggy'.

On Friday (November 14), Trump boarded the presidential plane to jet off to his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida for the weekend.

As is often the case with the president's trips, Trump was joined by members of the press aboard Air Force One, including Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey.

While on the flight, Lucey asked if there was anything 'incriminating' in the latest release of Epstein emails, which left Trump clearly agitated.

Pointing in her face, Trump said: "Quiet. Quiet, piggy."

"You are the worst! You're with Bloomberg, right? You are the worst!" Trump snapped, adding: "I don't know why they even have you."

Take a look at the controversial moment here:

Trump was criticised by many online following the comments, with a representative for Bloomberg News saying to the Guardian: "Our White House journalists perform a vital public service, asking questions without fear or favour. We remain focused on reporting issues of public interest fairly and accurately."

A White House official has since come out and defended Trump and his comments, however, telling PEOPLE: "This reporter behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way towards her colleagues on the plane.

"If you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take."

No context was provided on the nature of Lucey's alleged behavior.

Earlier this month, documents were released by the Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Before Trump's sudden outburst at Lucey, he was asked about an email shared in which Epstein claimed Trump 'knew about the girls'.

Donald Trump has continued to deny any wrongdoing (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

"I know nothing about that," the president immediately hit back. "They would've announced that a long time ago.

"It's really what did he mean when he spent all the time with Bill Clinton, with the president of Harvard, who, you know who that is. Summers, Larry Summers, whatever his name is."

Trump has repeatedly denied knowing about the sex trafficking that Epstein was conducting, and insisted that the pair had a falling out years before he was arrested and charged.

Following the contents of the emails being leaked and Trump being named, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement provided to UNILAD: "The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.

"These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments, and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again."