'Obnoxious': Journalist sparks uproar as Dem candidate shuts down indictment questions

Investigative political reporter Tara Palmeri sparked an uproar on Thursday after a Democratic congressional candidate abruptly ended an interview with her over questions on her indictment.

Palmeri briefly interviewed Kat Abughazaleh on her podcast, "The Tara Palmeri Show." The interview occurred a day after Abughazaleh found out President Donald Trump's administration had indicted her on one count of "forcibly" impeding an officer on duty and one count of conspiracy.

Abughazaleh was one of six people arrested at a protest of an immigration raid in Broadview, Illinois, earlier this month. Video from the incident showed federal officers throwing Abughazaleh to the ground.

Palmeri began the interview by asking Abughazaleh about the indictment. She also showed Abughazaleh a video from the protest and asked for her reaction.

Abughazaleh responded by saying the "evidence will come out in court" and quickly left the interview.

Palmeri posted the entire interaction on her Substack, "The Red Letter." She described it as a "Katie Porter moment," referring to a viral video of Porter being confrontational with her staff during a television interview.

Political observers responded to the video on social media.

"Not answering these questions is the responsible thing to do if you're under (baseless, but terrifying) federal indictment," journalist Alex Shephard posted on X. "Acting like Kat is being a diva for following basic legal advice is hackish and fundamentally misleading."

"Very odd segment," journalist David Wigel posted on X. Palmeri is asking Abughazaleh questions that counsel would tell her not to answer. Kat doesn't melt down a la Porter, she just cuts it off early without explanation. Looks like she regretted agreeing to the hit and called it."

"This was nothing close to a 'Katie Porter moment,'" former Obama administration staffer Tommy Vietor posted on X. "It was someone dealing with a real and scary indictment not wanting to answer questions that could be used against her in court. Stop with the obnoxious self-promotion and have some empathy..."

"Having interviewed a number of people in my day facing persecution for political speech, at a time when thousands are held in legal limbo without due process, her reaction seemed pretty polite and reasonable to me!" author and entrepreneur Max Fisher posted on X.