During his White House coronavirus press conference on Sunday, President Donald Trump shredded left-wing CBS reporter Weijia Jiang by asking her a question she couldn’t answer.
Jiang, who falsely claiming that a member of President Trump’s administration called the coronavirus the “kung flu” to her, started her exchange with the President by defending communist China from comments President Trump made last week.
The far-left reporter was specifically upset when President Trump said last week, “I was angry because it should’ve been told to us. It should have been told to us early. It should have been told to us a lot sooner. People knew it was happening and people didn’t want to talk about it.”
Jiang then asked if he was talking about China and President Trump said, “They should have told the rest of the world too.”
The reporter, instead of attacking China, attacked President Trump accusing him of knowing how bad the situation was and not doing anything.
“Many Americans are saying the exact same thing about you, that you should have warned them that the virus was spreading like wildfire through the month of February instead of holding rallies with thousands of people,” Jiang said. “Why did you wait so long to warn them? And why did you not have social distancing until March 16?”
“You didn’t warn people that it was spreading so quickly!” Jiang later said.
President Trump quickly changed the tables by asking her if she was aware of information that was not known at the time.
“Okay, and you know how many people when I issued the ban?” President Trump said. “How many cases of virus were in the United States when I issued the ban? Do you know the number? How many cases were here when I issued the ban?”
Jiang tried deflecting however President Trump further pressed: “No, no, no. You have to do your research.”
“On the 23rd of March, you said you knew this was going to be a pandemic,” Jiang said.
“How many cases were in the United States when I did my ban?” the President continued. “How many people had died in the United States? … I did a ban where I’m closing up the entire country. How many people died? How many people died in the United States, and yet I closed up the country. And I believe there were no deaths, zero deaths at the time I closed up the country. Nobody was there. And you should say thank you very much for good judgement.”
Jiang was completely stumped.
Read the transcript below:
CBS NEWS REPORTER WEIJIA JIANG: Since you shared with us something else that you saw on TV today, I have a question about something you said Thursday, which was that you were angry because information about the virus should have been told to us earlier and a lot sooner. People knew what was happening and people did not want to talk about it. Many Americans are saying the exact same thing about you, that you should have warned them that the virus was spreading like wildfire through the month of February instead of holding rallies with thousands of people. Why did you wait so long to warn them? And why did you not have social distancing until March 16.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Who are you with?
JIANG: I’m Weijia Jiang with CBS News.
TRUMP: So, if you look at what I did in terms of cutting off or banning China from coming in.
JIANG: Chinese nationals, but by the way, not Americans who were also coming from China.
TRUMP: Nice and easy, just relax. We cut it off. People were amazed. These gentlemen. Everybody was amazed what I did. We had 21 people in a room. Everybody was against it but me. Dr. Fauci said [that] had I not done that, perhaps tens of thousands, and maybe much more than that, people would have died. I was very early, very, very early. And we just saw — you saw Bret Baier making a statement. They had a debate well into February and it wasn’t even mentioned, the Democrats. We were very early –
JIANG: You didn’t warn people that it was spreading so quickly! And by the way, when you issued the ban, the virus was already here.
TRUMP: Okay, and you know how many people, when I issued the ban? How many cases of virus were in the United States when I issued the ban? Do you know the number? How many cases were here when I issued the ban?
JIANG: But did you know it was going to spread and become a pandemic?
TRUMP: No, no, no. You have to do your research.
JIANG: On the 23rd of March, you said you knew this was going to be a pandemic.
TRUMP: I did know it … Anybody knew it. How many cases were in the United States when I did my ban? How many people had died in the United States?
JIANG: So, do you acknowledge that you didn’t think it was going to spread? Did you not think it was going to spread?
TRUMP: How many cases were in the United States — I did a ban where I’m closing up the entire country. How many people died? How many people died in the United States, and yet I closed up the country. And I believe there were no deaths, zero deaths at the time I closed up the country. Nobody was there. And you should say thank you very much for good judgement.
