Donald Trump has furiously defended his response to combating the coronavirus, showing clips of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo praising hi...
Donald Trump has furiously defended his response to combating the coronavirus, showing clips of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo praising him and yelling at reporters who questioned his record.
In a briefing that stretched an hour and 31 minutes Sunday, the president also held up a Wall Street Journal op-ed that approved of his response.
'What I'm doing is I'm standing up for the men and women that have done such an incredible job,' he said when a CNN reporter asked why he was devoting so much time to showcasing praise with more than 40,000 Americans now dead. 'Nothing is about me,' the president insisted.
'You're never going to treat me fairly, many of you. And I understand that. I got here with the worst, most unfair press treatment they say in the history of the United States for a president,' Trump complained. 'They did say Abraham Lincoln had very bad treatment too.'
New York's Andrew Cuomo, who has consistently locked heads with the president in recent weeks, unloaded on Trump on live television Friday, mocking his demand for gratitude for federal help and saying: 'Thank you for doing your job'.
Cuomo followed this up with another swipe in his Saturday briefing where he recited Lincoln's famous quote - 'a house divided itself cannot stand' - and said there is 'no time for politics'.
Trump showed clips of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo praising the federal response during Sunday's White House briefing
Trump had trouble playing the first clip of Cuomo's Sunday press conference, as it cut off before it got to the 'good part'
The president also showed off a positive op-ed in the Wall Street Journal to the reporters gathered in the room
Trump made some news at the briefing - he said negotiations with Capitol Hill were 'getting close' to adds funds to the Paycheck Protection Program.
He also said he would utilize the Defense Production Act in order to increase the production of swabs.
The president then held up a swab and pulled it out of the packaging so the photographers in the room could get good visuals.
He then handed it off to Vice President Mike Pence, saying he could give it to his wife, Karen.
But Trump mostly used visuals in the briefing room Sunday to promote his own record.
After pulling out the positive Wall Street Journal op-ed he then began reading it to the room.
Trump also played clips of Cuomo twice, complaining that in the first clip 'they left out the good part'.
The video segments were from a press conference the New York governor held Sunday morning.
'The federal government stepped up and was a great partner,' Cuomo said in the first clip shown at the White House. 'I'm the first one to say it. We needed help, and they were there.'
The United States has by far the world's largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 750,000 infections and over 40,000 deaths.
Cuomo said of Trump Friday: 'First of all, if he's sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work, right. Second, let's keep emotion and politics out of this and personal ego if we can because this is about the people and our job and let's try to focus on that.
'The president doesn’t want to help on testing. I said 11 times, I said the one issue we need help with is testing. He said 11 times: "I don’t want to get involved in testing, it’s too complicated, it’s too hard". I know it’s too complicated and too hard. That’s why we need help. I can’t do an international supply chain.'
Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, tweeted: 'Beyond being another taxpayer-funded campaign ad, this video clip also makes Trump look exceedingly weak. The video casts Cuomo as Trump's boss giving him a performance appraisal. (If only!).'
The president also told one reporter to 'keep your voice down, please'.
Spokesman Judd Deere gave Trump a note that said the other clip of Cuomo praising him was ready to be played
President Trump made some news at the briefing, saying he would use the Defense Production Act to have more swabs made
Later, spokesman Judd Deere passed along a note to the president informing him the second clip was ready to roll.
'I just think it's so good for people because it's bipartisan,' Trump said. 'This is not about Democrats, Republicans,' he continued. This is about a thing that hit our country, the likes of which has never happened to us before.'
In the second Cuomo clip, the New York governor talked about how the state ended up having the supplies they needed.
Cuomo had long feared about bed capacity and ventilators and in those areas the federal government had stepped in.
'We saved everyone? No. But have we lost anyone because we didn't have a bed or we didn't have a ventilator or we didn't have healthcare staff? No,' Cuomo said Sunday.
'The people we lost are the people we couldn't save, not for lack of trying and not for lack of doing everything we could do as a society, not only as a government and as a healthcare system.'
Trump had previously taken to Twitter to accuse Cuomo of 'complaining' – and suggested Cuomo failed to take advantage of federal help.
'We built you thousands of hospital beds that you didn't need or use,' Trump fumed.
Cuomo responded in an extended monologue during his daily press conference Friday: 'Show gratitude. How any times do you want me to say thank you? I'm saying 'thank you' for doing your job.'
'This was your role as president, okay?' he said.
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