Watch: Trump gets into heated exchange with journalists
President Donald Trump sparred with several reporters, including NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander during a White House press briefing Friday.
Alexander asked the president about what his message would be to Americans who are frightened by the coronavirus pandemic.
“I say that you are a terrible reporter,” Trump responded. “That’s what I say.”
The exchange began when Alexander cited the latest pandemic statistics and asked if Trump's “impulse to a put positive spin on things may be giving Americans a false sense of hope” by touting a potential treatment.
“You’re doing sensationalism. And the same with NBC and Comcast. I don’t call it Comcast. I call it ‘Con-Cast.’ Let me just tell you something. That’s really bad reporting. And you ought to get back to reporting instead of sensationalism.”
PBS Newshours’ Yamiche Alcindor asked the president about the continued shortage of testing kits.
“There are Americans, though, who say they have symptoms and they can’t get tested,” she said. “What do you say…”
“I’m not hearing it!” Trump interrupted. “And we don’t want everybody to go out and get a test, because there’s no reason for it!”
Later, CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins asked Trump about his attack on Alexander.
“You see yourself as a wartime president right now, leading the country through a pandemic that we are experiencing,” Collins said. “Do you think going off on Peter, going off on a network is appropriate when the country is going through something like this?”
Trump responded, saying he’s “not a good journalist,” adding “Coming together is much harder when we have dishonest journalists.”
