President abruptly left his COVID 19 media conference in the Rose Garden today after tense exchanges with CBS News and CNN reporters.
The president took questions for nearly 40 minutes after delivering remarks touting his administration’s efforts to scale up COVID 19 testing. But the briefing ended suddenly after president clashed with journalists Weijia Jiang of CBS and CNN’s Kaitlan Collins with whom he has previously sparred.
Weijia Jiang of CBS asked the President, who frequently compares the United States’s testing ability and mortality rate with those of other countries, why the statistics surrounding the virus are a “global competition” to him.
Trump ends news conference amid clashes with journalists, after suggesting an Asian American reporter should "ask China" pic.twitter.com/4cmksFhfYu
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 11, 2020
And the President responded:
“Well, they’re losing their lives everywhere in the world, and maybe that’s a question you should ask China. Don’t ask me. Ask China that question, OK? When you ask that question, you may get a very unusual answer.”
And CBS Reported Weijia Jiang, who was born in China and raised in West Virginia responded:
“Why are you saying that to me specifically?”
President replied before moving on to another reporter saying:
“I’m not saying it specifically to anybody. I’m saying it to anybody that would ask a nasty question like that,”
When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins then attempted to ask a question, the president sought to move on and call on a different journalist.
The president claimed Collins didn’t immediately respond when he called on her. When she persisted in trying to ask a question, President ended the media conference and walked back into the Oval Office.
Cover photo taken by VishvaTimes.com
By Alex Ammohostianos
