Rep. Anna Paulina Luna rips Daily Beast's 'nasty' headline taking reported exchange with Trump out of context
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., took aim at The Daily Beast's "nasty" headline on Monday that took an exchange she had with President Donald Trump out of context.
Alex Isenstadt, Axios reporter and author of "Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power," made headlines with quotes allegedly said by Trump in a sneak preview published by Axios on Sunday.
Among the quotes was one he allegedly said to Luna in 2023 offering her the bed on his jet when she was pregnant and feeling ill, though it included a joke about his wife Melania being jealous.
"If you need a bed to lay down in, there's one here on the plane. If you feel sick and you need to lay there, you can lay on it. Just don't tell Melania. She doesn't like other women on my bed," Trump said to Luna, according to Isenstadt, who noted in the Axios sneak preview that Trump was joking.
However, The Daily Beast ran the headline "‘Don’t Tell Melania’: Trump Once Offered Rising MAGA Star His Bed," teasing to readers, "The alleged comments cast new light on the president’s eyebrow-raising marriage to Melania Trump."
The report acknowledged Luna was "unwell" in the first paragraph but didn't mention the joking nature of Trump's comment until the fourth.
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The Daily Beast shared its story on X further implying an inappropriate relationship between Trump and Luna, writing, "The new revelations reveal how Trump reportedly offered a female congresswoman his bed, as long as she kept it a secret from his wife."
Luna did not take kindly to The Daily Beast's reporting.
"I seldom respond to nasty headlines because I don’t like giving trash credibility, however, being that there is allegedly a book coming out with me named and attacking @POTUS, his marriage, our first lady, and frankly implying something distasteful about me, I am responding," Luna wrote on X.
"I was very pregnant and at the time experiencing pre-eclampsia symptoms, but was not diagnosed," she explained. "As soon as @realDonaldTrump boarded the plane, being the gentleman and good person that he is, said if I did not feel well, I could use the back room. He did this in a respectful way and in front of my husband, of which we thanked him. He also assured me that they had a medical team on board in case anything happened and they were aware of how pregnant I was."
"This was the most compassionate thing that could’ve been done at the time. I find it disgusting that the author fails to recognize that," Luna continued. "A few weeks later, I was induced because I did have pre-eclampsia . The author of this book never reached out to me for comment. Which means that this book is likely going to be a s--- hit piece. If people in POTUS orbit are talking to this author, they need to be cut off immediately. This is gross."
The Daily Beast was later hit by Community Notes, which read "The woman in question was Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who has responded publicly to the allegation. She claims nothing inappropriate occurred, she was not asked for comment, and this situation is being presented out of context."
The Daily Beast did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
A spokesperson for Axios told Fox News Digital, "In our report, Axios correctly portrayed and contextualized comments made by President Trump during an interaction that he had with Rep. Luna, an interaction she confirmed in her statement did in fact happen."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, White House communications director Steven Cheung denounced Trump books including Isenstadt's as a "desperate attempt to make money off of President Trump’s name because journalism is a dying industry with reporters peddling lies and selling their souls in order to make a quick buck," adding, "These works of fiction either belong in the bargain bin of the fantasy section in a discount bookstore or should be repurposed as tissue paper."