During the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing on Monday, President Donald Trump blasted CBS News reporter Paula Reid, saying to her, “you know you’re a fake.”
While Trump talked about criticisms of him coming from his presumed Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden over the travel restrictions that he put on China early this year, Reid repeatedly interrupted the President.
‘You’re so disgraceful’
“What did you do with that time that you bought?” Reid asked. “The argument is that you bought yourself some time and you didn’t use it to prepare hospitals, you didn’t use it to ramp up testing.”
“You’re so disgraceful,” Trump shot back at her. “It’s so disgraceful the way that you say that. Let me just, listen, I just went over it.”
CBS correspondent Paula Reid is just the latest in the liberal media to chose picking an on-air fight with President @realDonaldTrump and Dr. Fauci. https://t.co/4tTKktiUpW
— MediaResearchCenter (@theMRC) April 14, 2020
‘You know you’re a fake’
Reid went on, “Right now, nearly 20 million people are unemployed, tens of thousands of Americans are dead, how is this rant supposed to make people feel positive in an unprecedented crisis?”
“What did you do with the time that you bought?” Reid asked again.
Trump hit back again and hard, “You know you’re a fake, you know that. Your whole network, the way you cover it is fake.”
“The people are wise to you,” Trump added. “That’s why you have a lower approval rating than you’ve ever had before, times probably three.”
President Trump shreds a CBS News reporter. Wow. pic.twitter.com/sbIWkPr1kZ
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) April 13, 2020
Reid would not acknowledge that China has been deceptive and tried to cover up their COVID-19 outbreak, which prevented the world from knowing how serious the disease was. Many scientists, including those in the Trump administration, did not think coronavirus presented a threat to the U.S. because of this misinformation.
Even Dr. Fauci Didn’t Think Coronavirus Was a Threat to the U.S. in Late February
As late as February 29th, even Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, did not realize coronavirus would pose a significant threat to Americans.
NBC News asked Fauci at the time, “Dr. Fauci, it’s Saturday morning in America. People are waking up right now with real concerns about this; they want to go to malls and movies, maybe the gym as well. Should we be changing our habits, and if so, how?”
Her name is Paula Reid and she works for CBS. The strange thing is she didn't want to talk about "January"
But Trump was ready with her own words! pic.twitter.com/bUogU9mOIM
— ✭ Wayne Dupree ✭ (@WayneDupreeShow) April 13, 2020
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Fauci replied, “No. Right now, at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis. Right now the risk is still low, but this could change; I’ve said that many times, even on this program. You’ve gotta watch out because although the risk is low now, you don’t need to change anything that you’re doing. When you start to see community spread, this could change and force you to become much more attentive to doing things that would protect you from spread.”
Fauci also made a stern comment to Reid during the press conference for trying to suggest that Trump may have forced Fauci words.
“Everything I do is voluntarily,” Fauci fired back. “Please. Don’t even imply that.”
After Dr. Fauci clarifies his remarks from Sunday about how earlier mitigation efforts would have saved lives, @PaulaReidCBS asks if he's doing so "voluntarily."
Fauci: "Everything I do is voluntarily. Please. Don't even imply that." https://t.co/9T8aUPjUrs pic.twitter.com/NHqBbOUQ77
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 13, 2020