POTUS Berates NBC Reporter During COVID-19 Briefing

President Donald Trump called NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander a “terrible reporter” during Friday’s White House news briefing for asking what he would say to Americans who are scared about the coronavirus, reports The Associated Press.

Other reporters pushed back against Trump. Alexander later asked Vice President Mike Pence the same question — and got an answer.

The same administration that stopped a once-daily briefing session with the White House press secretary now has the president and his aides talk each day about the pandemic on live television, and early indications are that it’s a hit. Friday’s news conference, shown by the big broadcast and cable news networks for more than 90 minutes.

In the last two briefings, Trump’s grievances with the media bubbled to the surface.

Following a discussion about the use of a drug as a potential treatment for the coronavirus, Alexander wondered whether that offered a false sense of hope. He asked the president what was his message to people who are frightened, which Trump sarcastically called a “lovely question.”



“I’d say that you’re a terrible reporter, that’s what I’d say,” the president said. “I think it’s a very nasty question and I think it’s a very bad signal that you’re putting out to the American people. The American people are looking for answers and they’re looking for hope, and you’re doing sensationalism.”

Four reporters — CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, ABC’s Cecilia Vega, the AP’s Jill Colvin and PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor— later challenged Trump or Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the message it sent to be attacking the media during the coronavirus outbreak. CNN’s John King called it a “reprehensible” response to a fair question.

Alexander said he considered his question to be a “softball,” giving the president an opportunity to offer reassurance to the American people.


“I think it does sort of reveal a frustration, perhaps an anxiety of his political prospects, about a situation that is hard to keep in control as we witnessed it continue to spiral at this time,” Alexander said on MSNBC.

ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel all aired Friday’s briefing. Trump’s campaign rallies have been put on hold due to the virus, but his briefings reach more people, many of them isolated in their homes.

For example, an audience of 8 million people watched Trump’s briefing Sunday afternoon on the three cable news networks, led by Fox News Channel. At the same time during the same Sunday a year earlier, there were 1.75 million watching those networks, the Nielsen company said.