The White House removed a coronavirus briefing from its schedule for Monday, as President Donald Trump continued to rail against the news media.
Guidance issued to reporters on Sunday indicated that the briefing would be held, even though Trump tweeted a day earlier that they were “not worth the time & effort.”
Trump still is expected to make remarks and perhaps take questions from reporters at a 4 PM ET meeting with industry executives.
White House Press Secretary Kaleigh McEnany told reporters that the briefings would resume this week, but that they may have a new format. On Fox News, she said that Trump has done 49 briefings since Feb. 26, and said that the high ratings that the nightly events have drawn show that Americans “love to watch their president lead this country.”
The president has been lashing out at media coverage of his remarks at a briefing on Thursday, in which he suggested the use of disinfectants in the human body be tested as a way to fight the coronavirus. The comments were subject to ridicule, but also to words of warning by the makers of household products like Lysol and Clorox, as well as government agencies, to not ingest the chemicals.
On Monday, Trump continued to criticize the media. He wrote, “There has never been, in the history of our Country, a more vicious or hostile Lamestream Media than there is right now, even in the midst of a National Emergency, the Invisible Enemy!”
The last coronavirus briefing was on Friday, but it lasted 21 minutes. Trump did not take questions from reporters, a contrast to previous briefings, which have stretched to more than two hours.
