US President Donald Trump on Thursday ripped two reporters at the daily White House coronavirus press briefing.
The first encounter was with Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker, who questioned a report from the Department of Homeland Security suggesting the new coronavirus can be suppressed by heat and humidity.
"I'm the president and you're fake news,” Trump fired back at Rucker.
“It’s a just a suggestion from a brilliant lab, from a very very smart, perhaps brilliant man,” Trump continued. “He’s talking about sun, he’s talking about heat. And you see the numbers. That’s it, that’s all I have. I’m just here to present talent. I’m here to present ideas.”
Trump was later asked by another reporter if he was aware of the medical status of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, after CNN reported this week that the North Korean leader was in poor medical condition after a surgery.
"I think the report was incorrect. I think the report was done by a network was incorrect. I’m hearing they used old documents ... I hope it was an incorrect report,” said Trump.
He was then asked by a CNN reporter if he has had any contact with Kim, but declined to answer.
“CNN is fake news, don’t talk to me,” said the President, when the CNN reporter tried to ask a follow up question.
Trump has been a long-time critic of the mainstream US media, which he has repeatedly branded as “fake news”.
He has been particularly critical of CNN and in 2018 had a fiery exchange with its chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, which resulted in the White House temporarily revoking Acosta’s press credentials.
In the wake of that incident, Trump suggested that a new international television network should be formed to compete with CNN and present the greatness of the United States around the world.
Earlier this month, Trump ripped a CNN reporter who pressed him on promoting hydroxychloroquine as a way to treat COVID-19.