President Donald Trump trashed two CBS News reporters as being particularly irritating during a NY Post interview published Tuesday.
Trump often gets heated with reporters during the coronavirus press briefings and has gone after Paula Reid and Weijia Jiang, both CBS reporters, in the past. Trump brought up both during an exclusive interview with the NY Post and added that he doesn’t particularly mind the fights with journalists.
“It wasn’t Donna Reed, I can tell you that,” Trump said about the two. Reed was an actress well known for playing the high school sweetheart and wife in the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Reed also played a mom and housewife in the sitcom “The Donna Reed Show.”
“Paula Reid, she’s sitting there and I say, ‘How angry. I mean, What’s the purpose?’ They’re not even tough questions, but you see the attitude of these people, it’s like incredible,” Trump added. “So you know, I enjoyed it.”
Both Reid and Jiang responded to Trump’s comments Tuesday morning on Twitter. Reid tweeted it is “True” that she is “nothing like 50’s American archetypal mom Donna Reed.”
President Trump tells @nypost I am nothing like 50’s American archetypal mom Donna Reed. Fact-check: True. pic.twitter.com/sUTgWwsNX9
— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) May 5, 2020
Jiang tweeted that she “can confirm” Reid’s comment about not being like the actress. She added that she “wouldn’t describe” either of them “as ‘irritating’.”
The President told me to be “nice and easy” three out of the last four times I asked him a question. https://t.co/RfptoMczVG
— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) May 5, 2020
Trump continued to talk about the media during the NY Post interview, saying that he thinks “everybody” enjoys the briefings where he fights with reporters. Trump said the spars “would be more interesting than having boring questions asked.” He also chastised reporters for “asking the same question every press conference” in an effort to “get a rise,” the NY Post reported.
“I was told that some people didn’t like the combative attitude so much. And I can a little bit understand that,” Trump added. (RELATED: ‘That’s Enough’: Trump Attacks, Then Cuts Off PBS Reporter During Coronavirus Briefing)
Trump believes if the cameras were not on the reporters, they may have a different attitude when posing questions to him, according to the NY Post. He said “they wouldn’t care” but then added that the viewings would not be as good.
“A lot of people love when the press hits me, you know, when I go at it with the press — they like it,” Trump said, noting that while he would prefer “a more normal situation,” he enjoys the atmosphere.
“Yeah, I do, I, I’m OK with it,” according to Trump. “I’d rather have a normal, you know, normal — a more normal situation, but I do. And they like it. Some people don’t like it. I have a feeling everybody likes it because, you know, it’s more exciting than sitting there falling asleep.”