Trump's communications chief uses derogatory slur in rant against lawmakers over the Epstein files

Source: The Independent

Saturday 14 February 2026 11:31 EST


White House Communications Director Steven Cheung called two lawmakers the R-word, a slur long used to demean people with disabilities, in a social media post shared Friday evening.

Cheung called Democratic Representative Ro Khanna and Republican Representative Thomas Massie “some of the dumbest r****** ever to be in Congress.” “They knowingly and willfully ruined the lives of innocent people who had nothing to do with [Jeffrey] Epstein,” Cheung wrote on X.

This isn’t the first time a Trump administration official — or the president himself — has used the slur in recent months. President Donald Trump called Minnesota Governor Tim Walz “seriously r*******” in a Truth Social post on November 27. Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, used the slur in an X post on December 28.

The Independent has contacted the White House, Khanna and Massie for comment. Cheung’s statement came in response to a post from investigative journalist Jacqueline Sweet. She reported for The Guardian that four men Khanna named in a recent House floor speech about Epstein had no apparent ties to the dead sex offender.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/steven-cheung-epstein-files-slur-b2920477.html