President Donald Trump on Friday criticized CNN reporter Jim Acosta for calling his press briefings “Happy Talk.”
“We hear from a lot of people who see these briefings as sort of happy talk briefings,” Acosta began.
“Happy talk?” Trump replied incredulously. “Today?”
Acosta said that people who were put on CNN were telling them that they did not have enough protective medical equipment, tests, or ventilators.
“A lot of its fake news,” Trump replied. “Depending on your air, they’re always going to tell you that, because otherwise, you’re not going to put them on.”
Trump noted that he was receiving very positive comments from governors all around the country.
“This is not happy talk, maybe it’s happy talk for you, but it’s not for me,” he said. “We’re talking about death.”
The president said it was very difficult to shut down the booming economy for health reasons, to prevent Americans from dying.
“These are the saddest news conferences that I’ve ever had,” he said. “I don’t like doing them, you know why? Because I’m talking about death.”