Press Secretary Sanders said Trump insults female reporters to treat them equally

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White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders conducts a news conference in the White House in May 2018.

• White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended President Donald Trump calling women reporters things like "total loser" and "stupid."

• She said he has "contentious conversations" with male reporters as well and that Trump was simply treating women equally.
• Trump has made a number of comments about the physical appearance and intelligence of women reporters working in the White House.
• He has also sparred with men reporters, though both men and women reporters have said that Trump treats women reporters differently.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that President Donald's Trump's "contentious conversations" with women reporters, where he sometimes calls them "stupid" or losers, happen because he treats women equally.

At Politico's "Women Rule" event on Tuesday, reporter Eliana Johnson asked Sanders if the president's sometimes demeaning language towards women was ok.

"As a professional woman, do you think that's appropriate?" Johnson asked, referring to times that Trump had called individual female reporters "stupid" or a "total loser."

In response, Sanders said that Trump "has had an equal number of contentious conversations with your male colleagues."

"Women wanted to be treated equally, and we have a president that certainly does that," Sanders said.

"He is not going to hold back, and the people of this country elected him in large part because he is a fighter."

Read More: 11 insults Trump has hurled at women

Trump called CBS journalist Weijia Jiang "obnoxious" and told her to be "quiet" as she attempted to ask him a question outside the White House in June.

In October, he mocked Cecilia Vega of ABC and said she "never" thinks.

Though Trump has sparred with male reporters as well, critics have taken issue with the way he has sometimes dismissed women in particular.

In November, Trump responded to CNN reporter Abby Phillip's question of whether the president hoped the new acting attorney general would "reign in" the Mueller probe by saying: "You ask a lot of stupid questions."

CNN

Donald Trump told CNN White House correspondent and political analyst April Ryan a "loser" and "nasty." She later said he treated women and minority reporters differently.

He called White House correspondent and political analyst April Ryan a "loser" and "nasty" in the same month. Ryan later said that Trump treats women and minority reporters different to white male reporters.

Trump has also criticized the appearance of MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski and former Fox News and NBC host Megyn Kelly, and he has been criticized for interrupting presidential work to complement women reporters on their appearance.

Brian Karem, White House correspondent for Playboy, told CNN that Trump's treatment of women reporters was part of his wider distaste of the press, but said that "there is a problem" with the way Trump treats women, "whether it's reporters or females in general."

Trump has also sparred with male reporters. In April, he said a question from ABC News' White House correspondent, Jonathan Karl, was "stupid."

Most notably, Trump has railed against CNN's Jim Acosta, calling him "very rude," and trying to revoke his access to the White House.