Trump and teacher freed from Russia hold bizarre White House press conference with just one reporter

With just days to go until voters decide whether to end his party’s control of the House and Senate — and with his approval ratings at the lowest point of his political career — President Donald Trump on Friday appeared to dodge tough questions from the White House Press Corps.During an Oval Office appearance alongside Stephen Hubbard, the American teacher he freed Russian captivity, the president’s aides blocked most of the White House press pool — including reporters from the conservative Daily Caller, the Associated Press, The Hill and another conservative outlet called Center Square from attending and asking either him or Hubbard questions.Instead, the White House only permitted still photographers and a crew from CBS News, the network that was purchased by one of his political allies last year, to enter the Oval Office. A lone reporter from CBS, Jennifer Jacobs, was also allowed in, leading to a bizarre moment when Trump asked if there were any questions from the assembled press but only received a reply from Jacobs, a well-regarded ex-Bloomberg News reporter who left that outlet amid a controversy over her reporting on the Biden administration’s deal to free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich from a Russian prison.Jacobs asked Trump if his administration is working on freeing other Americans who are wrongfully detained by Moscow, leading Trump to reply: “We're going to be working on them.”Donald Trump speaks alongside Stephen Hubbard in the Oval Office Friday in a bizarre press event that saw him only field questions from one reporter (AFP/Getty)After answering several more questions from the same CBS News journalist, Trump thanked the lone reporter, television crew and photographers, who were ushered out of the room by White House aides. She asked questions on a vsriety of topics but with no followups or pushback to any of the president’s responses.He later avoided taking questions from other journalists as he departed the White House by helicopter less than an hour later.The president’s sudden reluctance to engage with journalists comes less than a day after he flew off the handle at a Reuters journalist who pressed him on why he’d canceled a pair of rallies scheduled for this weekend in Iowa and Kansas.“You know what the reason is? I don’t feel I have to go to Kansas,” Trump snapped at the reporter on Thursday, just before boarding Air Force One. “I feel perfect. You are disgusting.”Just over a week earlier, he similarly blew up during an Oval Office appearance alongside Vice President JD Vance and other members of the administration’s anti-fraud task force, calling The Independent’s correspondent a “sick person” rather than answer a question about his plans to renovate a Washington, D.C. golf course.Days after that, he upbraided a female reporter for NBC News who pressed him about his continued support for GOP Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s decision to run a widely-condemned television spot featuring his Democratic opponent Amy Acton’s birth mother, Donna Arthur, accusing her daughter of being “a liar” and warning the people of Ohio not to vote for her.“You're a horrible little reporter, aren't you,” Trump said after the journalist informed him of her employer’s identity.