While reporting on President Donald Trump’s departure to Walter Reed on Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta stated that if the president only had the mild coronavirus symptoms the White House claims he does, “one has to wonder why is all of this necessary.” Acosta also stated Trump “seemed to be moving a little slower” than he usually does and that the president didn’t take questions from the press.
Acosta said, “[W]hen the president came out, we asked him some questions. He didn’t want to take any of those questions. Obviously, the striking difference was that the president was wearing a mask. We don’t see him wearing a mask very often. I will tell you, Wolf, and I don’t know how much you can read into this, I could see some fatigue in the president’s eyes. You could tell he looked tired. And it appeared to me that Marine One was just taking a little bit extra time leaving the White House grounds this evening. That could also just be the way they were flying this evening. But it just — everything seemed to be moving a little bit slower this evening, which, of course, is understandable, Wolf, given the situation that the president’s in right now.”
After noting that more White House officials were wearing masks than usually do, Acosta added, “I mean, obviously, this doesn’t happen very often for the president of the United States to essentially be airlifted or medevaced from the White House to Walter Reed, suggests that this is a serious situation. The White House has been telling us all day long, no, he’s just dealing with mild symptoms, and so on. Honestly, Wolf, I think we’re just going to need more information before we can take that to the bank. If he were just dealing with mild symptoms and he was in good spirits, as they’ve been telling us, one has to wonder why is all of this necessary. But, again, as I was saying, as he was leaving the White House, he just seemed to be moving a little slower than we’re [used to] seeing him. And typically, this president, he likes to talk to reporters. You’ve seen this on so many different occasions. It’s a beautiful evening, would have been just fine for him to stop and talk to us, and he went right past us, flashed a thumb’s up.”
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