Trump says 'that's enough', cuts off reporter questioning him over ventilators remark at coronavirus briefing
President Donald Trump had his skirmishes with the media continuing over his administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak on Sunday, March 29. Yamiche Alcindor, a reporter from PBS, asked the commander-in-chief questions over the relief to states during the pandemic and the latter was not happy. The president interrupted and as Alcindor was trying to ask her second question, her microphone was taken away.
The journalist asked Trump about his remarks made at a recent interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News when he suggested various governors in the country were asking for more than they needed during the pandemic. The president chose not to respond.
Last week, Trump told Hannity in the interview that he did not believe New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's viewpoint that the state would need at least 30,000 ventilators to ensure proper treatment for every patient of coronavirus.
“Why don't you people,” Trump said, adding: “Why don’t you act... a little more positive. It’s always trying to get you, get you, get you’.”
“You know what? That's why nobody trusts the media,” the Republican leader said, clearly revealing his utter disdain for the mainstream media once again.
When Alcindor continued with a second question a short while later, Trump refused to take it because there were other reporters at the briefing and he noted that he wanted them to have a chance to also speak.
Trump asks the media to be nice
“That’s why you used to work for the Times and now you work for somebody else. Let me tell you something. Be nice. Don’t be threatening. Be nice. Go ahead,” he said.
The Trump administration has come under more pressure over its handling of the coronavirus crisis. The US is now the most affected country in the world with 142,328 confirmed cases and 2,489 deaths. Dr Anthony Fauci, a key member of Trump’s coronavirus task force, made a grim prediction on Sunday, March 29, that the disease could claim as many as 200,000 lives in the country. Over 0.72 million people have been affected by the virus world over with the death toll approaching 34,000.
In defense of America’s response to the crisis, Trump told the journalist that the country is “producing a tremendous number of ventilators”. He gave an example saying his administration sent thousands of generators into New York but alleged that they were kept in a warehouse and not distributed. Nearly 800 people have died in New York City alone while the total death toll in the Empire State has gone past 1,000.
“But just so you know, we’re all — you, me, everybody, we’re all on the same team. You know, when journalists get up, and you’re a journalist, a fine journalist. When journalists get up and ask questions that are so threatening, we’re all on the same team,” Trump said before Alcindor tried to get in her second question and said it was based “directly from your interview with [Fox News host] Sean Hannity.”
The president then told the PBS reporter to have a look at his interview with Hannity and cut her off. He then went to some other journalist waiting to ask a question.
“Go ahead. That’s enough. Thank you very much,” he said, adding that if time permitted, he would come back to take Alcindor’s second question.
Philip Rucker, White House bureau chief at the Washington Post later extended his support to Alcindor. Speaking to MSNBC, he called Alcindor a "world-class journalist" and said she often gets under Trump's skin by often asking probing and direct questions at the briefings.