‘Flunky’: Trump Rips Popular Fox News Reporter Correspondent

President Donald Trump turned on Fox News last week after a “Special Report” segment on the Iran conflict, calling chief correspondent Jonathan Hunt a “flunky” and telling Bret Baier to get his reporters in line. Baier answered on the air before the show was over.

The fight started with Hunt’s assessment that there had been “no significant developments” toward ending the war. The segment included Trump’s own earlier remark: “We’re not looking to meet or anything.”

TRUTH SOCIAL REACTION: "First of all, Mr. President, we didn’t say you wanted to meet. In fact we played a soundbite you didn’t want to meet and there are negotiations. We said that Treasury Secretary Bessent is hoping to meet with G-20 countries to increase the pressure on… pic.twitter.com/7RxHoHlLJJ

— Special Report (@SpecialReport) August 27, 2026

Trump saw the package and posted on Truth Social: “Jonathan Hunt of FoxNews did a particularly inaccurate report on the Failing Islamic Republic of Iran. I don’t want to meet, they do. In fact, they are begging to make a deal.” He closed with, “Bret Baier should straighten out his flunkies, for a change! President DJT.”

Baier did not let the label sit. “First of all, Jonathan Hunt’s not a flunky. He’s a great reporter,” he said. “Second of all, Mr. President, we didn’t say you wanted to meet. In fact, we played a soundbite that you didn’t want to meet and there are no negotiations.”

Baier said the report was about pressure, not a presidential sit-down. “We said that Treasury Secretary Bessent is hoping to meet with G-20 countries to increase the pressure on Iran, and Gulf State allies, including Qatar, are inside Tehran trying to get Iran to agree to concessions. That was what was said.”

Fox remains Trump’s most-watched cable home, but he has not spared its hosts when coverage crosses him. Earlier this month he attacked Shannon Bream after she questioned Attorney General Todd Blanche about continued construction of the White House ballroom.

“Watching FoxNews with Shannon Bream is always like watching the Worst of Fake News CNN,” Trump wrote. “I don’t know Shannon, but she always seems to pick guests, charts, and ‘polls’ that are negative, never talking about all of the incredible things that the Trump Administration has done.”

He has also gone after “The Five” co-host Jessica Tarlov, previously urging Fox executives to take her “off the air.” “She is, from her voice, to her lies, and everything else about her, one of the worst ‘personalities’ on television, a real loser! People cannot stand watching her.”

The Hunt episode fits that pattern: a president who still uses the network, and still treats individual correspondents as fair game when a story does not match the account he wants on the air.