“Let’s give it a shot,” President Donald Trump said as he called on CNN’s White House reporter Jim Acosta during a White House press briefing on Monday.
Acosta, who has been absent for a while at the daily coronavirus briefing, asked Trump to address the “people who are upset with you” for downplaying the threat the virus posed to the United States.
“Here we go,” Trump said as Acosta read a series of statements that Trump made as the virus spread from China.
Trump defended his statements, noting that he was urging the country to be calm in the face of the threat and to fight it and win to prevent panic. He said that he could easily whip up panic like the media,and make Acosta and CNN “look like a minor league player.”
“Instead of asking a nasty, snarky question like that, you should ask a real question,” Trump said to Acosta.
Acosta sent a message to Trump after the briefing was finished.
“Obviously reporters in the Rose Garden covering the White House are not here to congratulate him,” Acosta said on CNN. “We are here to hold his feet to the fire.”