The White House’s daily briefing at Rose Garden came to an abrupt ending after what has been described a “nasty reaction” by President Donald Trump to questions placed by an Asian-American journalist. Visibly irritated, Trump then refused to take a query from another reporter, summarily thanked the press and left with no further questions allowed.
Weijia Jiang, who works for CBS news, asked the President why he sees coronavirus testing as a global competition when more than 80,000 Americans have died. This was not the first episode of a verbal altercation between the two.
However, rather than discussing the rather low number of testing in America compared to other larger nations, Trump simply retorted: “Maybe that’s a question you should ask China,” was Trump’s immediate reply.”Don’t ask me. Ask China that question, OK?”
Trump tried to avoid the journalist, calling on another member of the press corps to put forward the next question, but Jiang would not accept the undertone of the President’s comment. “Sir, why are you saying that to me specifically?” asked Jiang. Trump justified his statement by arguing that “I’m not saying it specifically to anybody. I’m saying it to anybody that asks a nasty question.”
While Jiang insisted in her question, repeatedly asking “Why does it matter?”, Trump tried to get another journalist to ask questions, but then chided her for allowing Jiang to go ahead with her follow up questions.
Trump then ended the press conference, with a simple “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much,” he said before leaving the Rose Garden.
This conclusion was described by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer as “A very ugly, ugly ending to that one-hour appearance by the President in the Rose Garden.
Read more CNN / Independent
