President Donald Trump hammered Jonathan Karl, Chief White House Correspondent for ABC News, after the reporter failed to note that a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) inspector general report suggesting hospitals were short on coronavirus tests was produced by an Obama-era official.
The President seemed to suggest HHS Principal Deputy Inspector General Christi Grimm may have had a political motivation for the report.
“When was she appointed?” Trump asked. “When was she appointed?”
Karl didn’t have the answer at this point stating: “I’m not sure when she was appointed.”
Disputing the Report
Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir discussed Grimm’s report. He noted flaws due to it being produced very early on in the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus.
“I don’t know the inspector general, I don’t know that person,” Giroir said.
“I’ll tell you one thing that I have a problem with: If there was such a problem that she knew about or he knew about on March 23 or 24th, why did I find out about the test from them on the news media at 8 0-clock this morning?” he added.
Giroir explained that contrary to Grimm’s report, “testing is really in a good position right now.”
Funny how she and Ann Maxwell went to the media instead of contacting 4 star Admiral & Harvard grad Dr. Giroir who’s in charge of testing. They never even reached out to him. They went to media. Totally irresponsible during a crisis and appears political. pic.twitter.com/oZnhP8Pre8
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) April 7, 2020
RELATED: Jonathan Karl: CNN’s Jim Acosta Needs to Stop Acting Like Part of the Resistance
Third-Rate Reporter
Remember how Trump asked Karl about when Grimm was appointed? He asked Karl again.
“How long has that person been in government?” the President inquired.
Karl’s answer was different this time.
“She did serve in the previous administration,” Karl responded.
And Trump was less than pleased …
Trump to ABC’s Jon Karl: “You’re a third-rate reporter. What you just said is a disgrace — you will never make it.” pic.twitter.com/nW5XYv6dvZ
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 6, 2020
RELATED: Dr. Fauci Slaps Down CNN’s Jim Acosta Attempt To Say Trump’s Coronavirus Response Was Too Slow
Karl and the Resistance
President Trump found the omission of information to be curious at best.
“Oh, you didn’t tell me that. Oh, I see,” Trump quipped. “You didn’t tell me that, Jon. You didn’t tell me that she did serve in the previous admin, you mean the Obama Administration. Thank you for telling me that. See, there’s a typical fake news deal.”
This is the inspector general Trump is complaining about. She was appointed in January and appears to have been in government service since 1999. pic.twitter.com/dKrQ67opaJ
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) April 6, 2020
Karl insisted that he simply replied to the President’s question about when she was appointed to her current position.
“You’re a third rate reporter, and what you just said is a disgrace,” a fuming Trump shot back.
“You asked me, you said, ‘sir, she just got appointed.’ Take a look at what you said. Now I said, ‘when did they — when did this person — how long in government?’ Well, it was appointed in the Obama Administration,” he continued.
“Thank you very much, Jon. Thank you very much. You will never make it.”
The exchange is rather remarkable since Karl, just days earlier made news for comments regarding CNN reporter Jim Acosta.
“We can be tough, we can call out things that are not true, we can be aggressive in our questioning,” Karl said, “but I don’t think we should act like we are part of the resistance.”
Neglecting to mention a negative report has been issued by an Obama-era holdover might qualify as acting in the same manner.
