President Donald Trump on Monday showed reporters at the White House press briefing a video of their own reporting on the coronavirus, pointing out their failures and his success.
“We have a few clips that we’re just going to put up, we could just turn the lights down lower, I think you’ll find them interesting,” Trump said. “And then we’ll answer some questions, I’ll ask you some questions because you’re so guilty, but forget it.”
The president played the video on the screens at the White House press briefing room.
“The media minimized the risk from the start,” the text of the video read, prior to featuring a series of flashback clips to prominent media professionals downplaying the threat posed by the virus.
The clip then featured a timeline of the president’s actions to defend the country from the virus, while partisan media and some Democrats criticized him at every step.
Other clips featured audio from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman talking about the president’s “effective” attempt to stop the spread of the virus with the travel ban on China.
The clip also highlighted praise that the president received from Democrat governors.
Reporters appeared taken aback by the video, prompting questions about its source. White House reporter Jonathan Karl questioned why the president would use White House staff to complete a “campaign-style” video.
The president said that the clip was produced by White House staff in just a couple of hours to show the media their reporting errors.
“We could have given you hundreds just like that,” Trump said. “We have them. We didn’t want this to go on too long.”