President Trump rebutted claims from CNN correspondent Jim Acosta about the availability of medical materials amid the coronavirus pandemic.
During a White House press briefing on Friday, the president shot down a question from Acosta that claimed Trump was engaging in “happy talk” while the federal response to the coronavirus failed to meet the needs of states.
“We hear from a lot of people who see these briefings as sort of ‘happy talk’ briefings,” Acosta began. “You and some of the officials paint a rosy picture of what is happening around the country. You look at some of these questions, ‘Do we have enough masks? No.’ ‘Do we have enough tests? No.’ ‘Do we have enough PPE? No,'” he continued.
Trump disagreed, citing the responses of governors who have thanked him for federal assistance, and asserted the briefings were not “happy talk.”
“This is not happy talk. Maybe it’s happy talk for you. It’s not happy talk for me. We’re talking about death. We’re talking about the greatest economy in the world, one day I have to close it off,” Trump said, striking a solemn tone during the Good Friday briefing. “Thousands of people have died. There’s nothing happy about it, Jim. This is sad talk. These are the saddest news conferences that I’ve ever had. I don’t like doing them. You know why? Because I’m talking about death.”
Prominent Democratic governors have lauded Trump for the federal government’s assistance in combating the coronavirus. When pressed by CNN anchor Jake Tapper, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would be “lying” to say Trump hasn’t been responsive to the state’s needs. “The fact is, every time I’ve called the president, he’s quickly gotten on the line,” he said then, noting several actions the administration has taken to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in his state.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also recently touted the efficacy of antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which has been repeatedly supported by Trump as a possible treatment for the coronavirus .“There has been anecdotal evidence that it is promising; that’s why we’re going ahead,” Cuomo said in a press conference this week.
More than 1.6 million people have tested positive for the coronavirus globally. Of those, at least 101,000 have died from it, and more than 371,000 have recovered. The United States has seen at least 486,000 confirmed cases, with approximately 27,700 reported recoveries and 18,000 deaths.
