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Trump official calls journalist April Ryan ‘Missy Piggy,’ immediately regrets it

Lynne Patton has since apologized for the fat-shaming tweet.

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Samantha Grasso

Trump HUD official Lynne Patton and White House correspondent April D. Ryan, with a tweet Patton made about Ryan's appearance.

Trump Housing official Lynne Patton has apologized to White House correspondent April Ryan after posting a photo of the journalist on Twitter, calling her “Miss Piggy” and a “broke blogger.”

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According to BuzzFeed News, Patton, who handles the federal government’s New York and New Jersey housing programs, began tweeting at Ryan, a reporter for the American Urban Radio Networks, on Tuesday, in response to a CNN clip in which Ryan says she’s received death threats since she began reporting on the White House.

Patton, in response, wrote that she too has received death threats for three years, telling Ryan, “welcome to the club.”

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Ryan then called Patton a fool and questioned who Patton was, while Patton called Ryan a blogger working for a bankrupt outlet.

https://twitter.com/LynnePatton/status/956315194719744001

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https://twitter.com/LynnePatton/status/956313823484497920

https://twitter.com/LynnePatton/status/956314866968559617

Eventually, Ryan told Patton to “kick rocks,” then questioned her position at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In response, Patton shared her now-deleted tweet fat-shaming Ryan.

“I hear #MissPiggys still on a rampage. Gee, I must’ve struck a nerve, @AprilDRyan! #BankruptBlogger,” Patton wrote.

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Lynne Patton calls April D. Ryan 'Miss Piggy.'
BuzzFeed News

 

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On her personal profile, and on her HUD official Twitter, Patton has apologized to Ryan for sharing the insult, calling the move “beneath” her, and apologizing to the Trump family and HUD Secretary Ben Carson as well.

https://twitter.com/LynnePatton/status/956335497365852161

https://twitter.com/LynnePattonHUD/status/956348422449254400

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While BuzzFeed didn’t receive responses to requests for comment from the HUD, Patton, nor Ryan, political pundit Armstrong Williams tweeted on Thursday morning that Carson is “deeply disappointed” by Patton’s comments, and has tried reaching out to Ryan.

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Ryan has had a contentious relationship with the Trump administration and has repeatedly been ostracized for taking the president to task. Last year, Trump made racial assumptions about Ryan during a press conference; Ryan also said that former administration official Omarosa Manigault threatened her. Ryan was also reportedly not invited to the White House holiday media party. After Trump called Haiti and El Salvador “shithole” countries, Ryan blatantly asked him if he was racist.

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