Watch: Trump Spars with NBC’s Peter Alexander for ‘Sensationalism’ in Coronavirus Briefing

White House

Donald Trump berated NBC reporter Peter Alexander on Friday for suggesting he was offering “false hope” to Americans, by talking about the effectiveness of drugs like chloroquine to fight the Chinese coronavirus.

“Is it possible that your impulse to put a positive spin on things may be giving Americans a false sense of hope and misrepresenting preparedness right now?” Alexander asked.

Trump replied he was optimistic about the effectiveness of the drug chloroquine even though Dr. Anthony Fauci said during the briefing it was not clinically proven.

“It may work and it may not work,” he said. “I feel good about it. that’s all it is, just a feeling.”

“What do you see Americans who are watching you right now that are scared?” Alexander asked, citing the numbers of invected and people killed by the virus.

“I say that you are a terrible reporter,” Trump replied. I think that’s a very nasty question, and I think it’s a very bad signal that you’re putting out to the American people.”

Trump berated MSNBC/NBC/Comcast for promoting sensationalism.

“I don’t call it Comcast, I call it Concast,” Trump said. “That’s really bad reporting.”

Moving on to John Roberts from Fox News, Trump pointed to Alexander and said, “You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

 

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.