Trump to Reporter: 'Maybe They'll Have to Go After You'

President Trump didn't like a question from a reporter Tuesday about the attorney general's threat to crack down on hate speech, and he turned his response into a not-so-veiled threat directed at ABC's Jonathan Karl and his network, reports Deadline.

• Karl: "A lot of your allies say that hate speech is free speech," said Karl, referencing criticism of Pam Bondi's comments.
• Trump: "She'll probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly," Trump replied. "It's hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart. Maybe they will come after ABC. ABC paid me $16 million recently for a form of hate speech. Your company paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech, so maybe they'll have to go after you."
• Video: See the exchange here.

The context is that on Monday, Bondi said this:

• "There's free speech and then there's hate speech, and there is no place—especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie—in our society." She added, "We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech, anything, and that is across the aisle."

The remark drew immediate rebukes from across the political spectrum, with critics including the Supreme Court's Sonia Sotomayor seeing them as an infringement of First Amendment rights, per Politico Playbook. "Someone needs to explain to Ms. Bondi that so-called 'hate speech,' repulsive though it may be, is protected by the First Amendment," Brit Hume of Fox News wrote on social media, per the New York Times. On Tuesday, Bondi sought to clarify, emphasizing that she was referring to hate speech that "crosses the line into threats of violence."