“You know you’re a fake. You know that.”
US President Donald Trump clashed with CBS journalist Paula Reid in a bizarre press conference on Monday, in which Trump went on the offensive against the media and defended himself and his regime against accusations of inaction in relation to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
Reid was one of a number of reporters to grill Trump on his response to the pandemic after Trump played a video that had been edited favourably to suggest a decisive response on his behalf, with clips of doctors saying in January that Covid-19 would not pose a significant threat to the United States and footage Trump declaring a national emergency last month.
The short video did not cut much dice with the assembled members of the media present.
Reid grilled Trump on his initial response to the global pandemic, asking Trump what he successfully did in February with time that he claimed to have bought the nation.
Trump replied by answering what he achieved in January, when Reid pressed him further and again asked about February.
The President then answered by saying: “A lot. A lot… We did a lot. Look. You know you’re a fake. You know that. The whole network, the way you cover it is fake. And most of you, not all of you, but the people are wise to you. That’s why you have a lower approval rating than you’ve ever had before, times probably three.”
Trump then tried to steer the conversation towards Joe Biden, while Reid continued to press him.
Here's video of @PaulaReidCBS grilling Trump on what his administration did in the month leading up to the coronavirus crisis.
"You didn't use it to prepare hospitals. You didn't use it to ramp up testing." pic.twitter.com/3pvrn9EAug
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) April 13, 2020
CNN was one of a number of news outlets to question the legitimacy of the press conference, describing the event as a “propaganda session”, and saying “Trump refuses to acknowledge any mistakes” in on-screen titles accompanying the footage.
There are currently over 580,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US, by far the biggest number of any country in the world.
On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he believes “the worst is over” for New York, the worst hit of all states in the US, after a one-day death toll of 671 deaths, the lowest it has been for a week.
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