By Jon Queally / Common Dreams

Trump speaks to Irish journalist Caitriona Perry while on the phone with Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s new prime minister. (Screen shot via Twitter)

The word Irish journalist Caitriona Perry used to characterize her recent interaction with President Donald Trump in the Oval office was “bizarre.”

But for many of those who witnessed it, the president’s behavior—in which he singled Perry out from a group of reporters on Tuesday by calling her “beautiful” with a “nice smile” and summoning her over to him as he spoke on the phone with Ireland’s newly-elected Taoiseach (prime minister) Leo Varadkar—was not just strange, but “disgusting.” Robert Mackey, writing for The Intercept, described it as a “textbook example of workplace harassment.”

The reaction online, especially among women who recognized the terrible situation Perry was placed in by the president, was widespread condemnation:

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#donald trump#ireland#leo varadkar#media#national#politics#sexual harassment#usa