President Donald Trump did not hold a White House coronavirus briefing on Saturday, a move he seemed to explain the reasoning behind in an evening tweet that blasted the “Lamestream Media.”
“What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, & then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately,” Trump tweeted. “They get record ratings, & the American people get nothing but Fake News. Not worth the time & effort!”
What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, & then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately. They get record ratings, & the American people get nothing but Fake News. Not worth the time & effort!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2020
The president’s tweet, and the lack of a White House coronavirus task force team press conference, comes after an abridged Friday briefing with no questions from the press and a Friday night report from Axios stating Trump’s intention to scale back on the daily briefings, which have often been marked by widely publicized confrontations with the press.
“I told him it’s not helping him,” a Trump senior adviser told the outlet. “Seniors are scared. And the spectacle of him fighting with the press isn’t what people want to see.” (RELATED: ‘The Data Is In — Stop The Panic And End The Total Isolation’: Fmr. Stanford Chief Of Neuroradiology Discusses Viral Column)
Saturday was the first day without a task force briefing since Easter, The Hill reported.