The reporter brutally mocked by Donald Trump in an excruciating press conference moment on Friday has spoken out to give his side of the story.
Trump held a highly-anticipated college sports roundtable with the media, but the session went viral for an unexpected reason when the president poked fun at one of the reporters’ questions.
Conservative talk show host John Fredericks was the man in question, prompting the reply when he led with a bizarre reference to his 21-year-old son.
‘As you know, my son Joe is a high-level D-1 athlete, third-year relief pitcher, University of Maryland,’ Fredericks boldly told Trump.
But unfortunately for the Virginia-based presenter, he was quickly shut down.
In a moment which has gone viral on social media, Trump stopped him in his tracks by asking: ‘How would I know that?’
Donald Trump brutally mocked a reporter during his college sports roundtable on Friday
He then delivered the final blow amid laughter in the room, adding: ‘He said, “As you know.” I don’t even know who the guy is.’
Fredericks has now given his response to the very viral moment, telling the Daily Mail on Saturday that there was ‘no offense taken’ from his ‘light-hearted’ exchange with the president.
‘I always enjoy my dialogue with president Trump,’ he went on to add, before explaining that he was attempting to use the phrase ‘as you may know’ rather than implying that Trump would be aware of his son’s fledgling career.
Fredericks’ son, Joseph, is a pitcher for the University of Maryland. He is currently undergoing a tough 2026 season with an 18.90 ERA in five appearances.
His dad’s awkward exchange with Trump at the White House left fans in disbelief, with many questioning why he assumed the president would be keeping tabs on his baseball career.
‘Honestly a good look into the mind of a journalist. Expects the most famous man on earth to know small details about his personal life,’ one user said on X.
Conservative talk show host John Fredericks (right) led a question to Trump about his son Joseph (left), who plays baseball for the University of Maryland
‘Who TF do these people think they are? He slays them every single time,’ another concluded.
While a third simply put: ‘Just brutal’.
Trump convened his college sports roundtable with one notable absence from the group of athletics leaders – and attacked the judge who ruled on athletes getting paid as well as the Supreme Court.
Conference commissioners, college athletic directors and plenty of other stakeholders in the sports world convened for the powerhouse meeting of the minds to strengthen the proposed SCORE Act to tighten restrictions on paying student athletes.
But among the absent invitees included Tiger Woods, whose son Charlie is set to play college golf.
In the process, Trump took aim at retired Judge Claudia Wilken – the woman who opened the door for student athletes to be paid for their name, image and likeness (NIL).
The president convened his highly-anticipated roundtable at the White House on Friday
In 2014, Wilken ruled against the NCAA in O’Bannon v. NCAA, saying the college sports governing body violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by barring schools from compensating athletes for use of their name, image and likeness. Subsequent court rulings allowed players to be paid for NIL rights and even receive a salary directly from their schools.
‘A person who knew nothing about sports made a ruling, and she turned the whole thing upside down. And it’s really a disgrace, if you want to know the truth. A damn disgrace,’ Trump said.
He added: ‘It’s just a shame… I looked at what’s happened to colleges and to college sports, and it is colleges, because colleges are going to go out of business.’
Later, Trump threatened to sign an executive order intervening in college sports because he believes the Democratic Party would not pass the SCORE Act in either the House or the Senate.
