Trump blasted for airing propaganda video at coronavirus briefing
US President Donald Trump shocked reporters at the White House by broadcasting a video with misleading information at his daily coronavirus press briefing that resembled a re-election campaign advertisement.
During his COVID-19 briefing on Monday, Trump insisted his administration had significantly mitigated the pandemic, despite a US death toll of over 23,200, the highest in the world.
At one point, he even claimed that his actions had saved "tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of lives."
To the shock of reporters gathered for his press briefing, Trump aired a self-promoting, deceptive video that sounded like a campaign re-election ad.
The video featured clips that included Democratic Governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gavin Newsom of California praising the Republican president’s response to the pandemic.
Several news outlets, which have been live broadcasting most or all of the lengthy briefings, quickly cut away.
Asked by a journalist why he aired the video, Trump was disrespectful: "because we're getting fake news."
Trump has frequently used the term “fake news” to cast doubt on critical media reports about his administration, often without providing any evidence to support his case.
"To play a propaganda video at taxpayer expense in the White House briefing room is a new - you can insert your favorite word here," CNN anchor John King, who spent years covering the White House, said when the network cut away.
Afterwards, Trump repeatedly insisted he took the right step in mitigating the coronavirus outbreak, and expressed anger at reporters who asked him difficult questions.
"We really have done this right," Trump said. "The problem is the press doesn't cover it the way it should be."
The United States, with the world’s third-largest population, has recorded more fatalities and confirmed cases from COVID-19 than any other country. There were over 23,600 deaths and nearly 582,000 cases as of Tuesday.
Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has been sharply condemned by US experts as severely inadequate, is ruining America’s reputation as a competent country, according to The Guardian newspaper.
Trump’s incompetence and dishonesty in managing the COVID-19 pandemic has left foreign observers as well as Americans in disbelief and may permanently tarnish US standing around the world, the newspaper reported on Sunday.
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