President Trump ridiculed an anonymous report from Vanity Fair that alleged he is concerned that journalists may infect him with the coronavirus.
The president’s outburst came in response to a story published on Monday that claimed he told aides he’s worried that reporters “will purposefully contract” the virus in order to give it to him on Air Force One. The report also claimed that he had asked Secret Service to set up a screening program to prevent any sick person from entering the White House.
“Vanity Fair Magazine, which will soon be out of business, and their third rate Fake reporters, who make up sources which don’t exist, wrote yet another phony & boring hit piece,” Trump fired back at the outlet in a Wednesday morning tweet. “The facts are just the opposite. Our team is doing a great job with CoronaVirus!”
Gabriel Sherman, the reporter behind the Vanity Fair story retaliated by tweeting, “Because a president doing a ‘great job’ fighting a deadly health pandemic would take time to rage tweet about a journalist instead of focusing on, say, increasing testing.”
because a president doing a “great job” fighting a deadly health pandemic would take time to rage tweet about a journalist instead of focusing on, say, increasing testing https://t.co/nHPgUgcLYy
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) March 11, 2020
The president’s response came after White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham called the report “100% fake news” and said it was “false & sensational writing.” She also asked the publication for a retraction.
Despite having contact with numerous people who have possibly been exposed to the coronavirus, Trump has not been tested. Neither has Vice President Mike Pence, who’s leading the government’s response to the outbreak.
So far, there are over 1,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States, and more than 30 people have died.
