A journalist from NPR has had to go into hiding due to being wrongly accused by supporters of former President Donald Trump as the person who hit him in the face with a microphone.

The political correspondent, Danielle Kurtzleben, was wrongly identified as the journalist who allegedly struck Trump with a boom mic during a press conference, as claimed by independent journalist Laura Loomer.

Loomer, a staunch Trump fan, identified Kurtzleben on Sunday in a post on X, suggesting she may have hit the president on purpose. 

Loomer stated, ‘I have identified the reporter who hit President @realDonaldTrump in the face with a boom mic this week while he was speaking to the press on the tarmac.’

‘Her name is Danielle Kurtzleben @titonka. She is the newly appointed White House reporter for @NPR and a massive Trump hater and LGBTQ advocate who once suggested during the 2024 campaign that Trump only spoke in Howell, Michigan because it has ties to the KKK. 

‘Did she hit President Trump in the face on purpose?,’ Loomer speculated. 

Loomer’s tweet has been viewed nearly 7 million times – and triggered hundreds of other Trump fans to also speculate about Kurtzleben’s alleged involvement. 

After being named, Kurtzleben made her X account private and has not spoken about the situation. 

DailyMail.com reached out to Kurtzleben, but received a message that she was ‘out of the office.’ NPR did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Trump was addressing the media on the tarmac at a Joint Base Andrews in Maryland when the bizarre mishap took place.  

On Monday, a hot mic revealed exactly what the reporter said to the commander-and-chief after he was bumped him in the face.

The president closed his eyes and leaned back to avoid further contact as the reporter said: ‘I’m so sorry.’ 

Another angle of the moment showed a crowd of people gathered for the press conference. 

The photo, shared on X, showed three people holding boom microphones – one of which appeared to be Kurtzleban with short hair, headphones over her ears and a tan trench coat on, according to online speculation. 

She has not been formally identified as the journalist at fault. 

Although he appeared a bit agitated by the incident, Trump was able to see the funny side and cracked a joke about it.

‘She just made television tonight. She just became a big story tonight,’ Trump said of the mic operator.

He asked while unable to stop from laughing: ‘Did you see that?’

The president was praised by his supporters for how he dealt with the awkward scenario on camera.

‘A reporter just HIT President Trump with a microphone. But 47 handled it like a PRO,’ wrote one.

Others were a little more concerned that the mic was able to get so close to the president, leaving many of his loyal supporters furious. 

‘President Trump was just smacked in the face by a reporter’s boom mic. Unreal these people. Have some respect,’ said Trump booster Charlie Kirk, who added that the president handled it ‘gracefully.’

Another wrote: ‘That is a horrible safety threat. Why does secret service allow this? That person should be arrested and thoroughly investigated.’ 

‘An assassin with a ricin tipped microphone (an amount of only a few specs of dust would suffice) could kill the president in this manner,’ another user wrote, adding: ‘This is a security failure.’ 

While many were upset about what happened to Trump, others showed a bit of sympathy for the reporter. 

‘Obviously this was an accident and I genuinely feel terrible for the person that made that mistake. They must be very embarrassed.’

Before starting at NPR in 2015, Kurtzleben worked as a correspondent for Vox.com for a year, covering economics and business news, according to her profile. 

She covered the 2024 presidential election, ‘with particular focus on economic policy and gender politics.’  

Kurtzleben not only writes for the outlet, but also appears on the outlet’s shows, including The NPR Politics Podcast.  

The now-viral moment came after Trump’s speech at the DOJ in Washington was clear that the media had been biased against him, complaining at one point that some reporting by the news media is ‘illegal.’

‘These networks and these newspapers are really no different than the highly paid political operative. And it has to stop. It has to be illegal. It is influencing judges and it is really changing law and that just cannot be illegal. I don’t believe it is legal,’ he said.

Trump specifically had it out for the cable news networks like MSNBC, which he referred to with his traditional disdain.

‘I believe that CNN and MSDNC, who literally write 97.6% bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party. And in my opinion, they are really corrupt and they are illegal. What they do is illegal.’

There were a few hundred people in the audience for his remarks – all of them ardent Trump supporters.

He often railed against the ‘weaponization’ of the government against him, referring to the federal investigations into him.

Trump has felt empowered by a Supreme Court ruling that gives presidents immunity for any act conducted while they are in office.

He has filled the Justice Department top ranks with loyalists and his own personal defense attorneys.

These include Pam Bondi, who defended him at his impeachment trial in his first term, and two of his lawyers in the porn star hush money trial that saw Trump convicted by a New York judge last year.

In one of her first directives following her confirmation, Bondi ordered DOJ officials to ‘zealously defend’ the interests of the presidency.

She escorted Trump into the department when he arrived to give his remarks. She showed him his official portrait on the wall.

‘That’s a nice picture,’ Trump said.