In fairness, it’s not beyond Mr Trump to take potshots at reporters. Kaitlin Collins, CNN’s chief White House correspondent, has been a particular subject of the president’s wrath.
While there are some people he loves to hate, he also enjoys playing the game with the gaggle of White House correspondents who follow him around dutifully.
That group, including Fox journalists, are very different from the shiny-haired, white-toothed network hosts of morning and evening shows Mr Trump often joins for some me time.
Sean Hannity, who occupies the sought-after 9pm slot, is so close to the president that aides reportedly refer to him as the unofficial chief of staff.
When Mr Trump walked away from a summit with Putin this summer without securing a ceasefire in the Ukraine war, Heinrich suggested he had been “steamrolled” by the Russian leader.
Hannity, by contrast, told Mr Trump the press conference between the two leaders was “deep and historic and profound”. Mr Trump, in turn, praised his interviewer as an “outstanding man”.
“The idea that she is some kind of caricature of a Fox News personality is to underestimate her skills and presence in the briefing room,” a White House correspondent told The Telegraph.
“She is less interested in pleasing viewers and stoking their political resentments than she is in asking questions that matter and holding presidents, of whichever party, to account.”
