ABC's Jonathan Karl recounts instance Trump made him 'fear' for his safety

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Jonathan Karl describes time he feared for his safety from Trump admin

ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl described feeling concerned after President Donald Trump called him out during a White House press event in September.

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ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl recalled the time President Donald Trump claimed the Justice Department would go after him and his network as one instance when he was in "fear" of his safety.

Karl spoke about this interaction with Trump on the "Hasan Minhaj Doesn't Know" podcast Wednesday while discussing the president being "willing to go to almost any extreme" to go after his "enemies."

"At any point did you feel in fear of your safety and what you've done?" host Hasan Minhaj asked.

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ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl appeared on the "Hasan Minhaj Doesn't Know" podcast. (Michael Le Brecht II/ABC via Getty Images)

Karl recounted asking Trump about U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's comments on cracking down on "hate speech" following the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in September.

"What do you make of Pam Bondi saying she’s going to go after hate speech? Is that, I mean, a lot of people, a lot of your allies, say hate speech is free speech," Karl asked Trump.

"She’ll probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly," Trump replied, speaking over Karl as he asked if that would be appropriate. "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 will have to go after you."

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Jonathan Karl described feeling shocked when President Donald Trump claimed he had "a lot of hate" in his heart. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"That was a shocking moment, not because of me personally, but the 'you have a lot of hate in your heart, and you haven't been fair,'" Karl told Minhaj. "So the idea that the president of the United States is suggesting that the power of the Department of Justice could be brought to bear against journalists who the president of the United States doesn't believe are fair, that's a very interesting reading of the First Amendment."

Karl added that Bondi received pushback for her comments from both liberals and conservatives, each arguing that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

Jonathan Karl described what he called one of the "strangest" interactions he's had with President Donald Trump in 2020. (Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC via Getty Images; Fabrice Coffrini/ AFP via Getty Images)

Karl also recounted speaking with Trump to discuss potentially inviting him to the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2020, when Karl served as the organization's president. He described it as one of the "strangest meetings" he had with the president, particularly over Trump taking issue with Minhaj hosting the dinner.

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"And here's the thing, I was not going to negotiate with him," Karl said. "So if they thought that they were going to say, 'Hey, you get rid of this guy Hasan Minaj, the president's going to come and do the dinner, and you're going to be a big star.' You know, no, I'm not doing that. I hadn't even decided to invite him."

Fox News' Marc Tamasco contributed to this report.

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