Donald Trump Abruptly Ends Press Briefing After Sparring With Reporter

President Donald Trump abruptly ended a coronavirus press briefing on Monday after he was challenged by an Asian American reporter for CBS News why he told her to “ask China” about coronavirus testing, and later by a CNN correspondent who tried to ask further queries.

Weijia Jiang asked Trump why he was emphasizing that the U.S. was doing better than any other country when it comes to testing.

“Why does that matter? Why is this a global competition to you if every day Americans are still losing their lives and we are still seeing more cases every day?” she asked.

“Well, they are losing their lives everywhere in the world,” Trump said. “Maybe that is a question you should ask China. Don’t ask me. Ask China that question. When you ask China that question you may get a very unusual answer.”

The president then called on CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who was walking to the microphone before Jiang then said, “Sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically?”

“I am not saying it specifically to anybody. I am saying it to anybody who would ask a nasty question like that,” Trump said.

“That is not a nasty question,” Jiang objected.

Then Trump tried to call on someone else, before Collins said, “But you pointed to me. … You called on me.”

Trump then said, “I did, and you didn’t respond, and I am now calling on the young lady in the back.”

She then tried to ask her question before Trump wrapped up the briefing.

Jiang was born in China but immigrated to West Virginia when she was two years old. In March, she said that an unidentified White House official called the coronavirus the “kung flu.” Trump and other administration officials at the time were referring to the virus as the “China virus.”

The briefing, held in the Rose Garden, was Trump’s first since April 27. The White House scaled back the frequency of the press conferences. Trump drew ridicule during a briefing in late April in which he suggested that medical professionals test whether injecting disinfectants into the human body would be an effective treatment for the virus, a comment he later said was made in sarcasm.

At the briefing, Trump announced plans to expand testing capacity across the country. The White House announced that it is sending $11 billion to help governors reach testing capacity so they can reopen their states’ economies. That money already was approved as part of the CARES Act, the massive relief legislation that Congress passed in March.

Reporters and much of the White House staff wrote facemarks to the briefing, after the revelation last week that one of the president’s valets and Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for the coronavirus. Trump himself did not wear a mask, but told reporters that he was a far enough distance away from others in the Rose Garden.