Trump Calls Reporter's Tone 'Nasty' While Defending Kushner's Stockpile Remark
President Donald Trump snapped at a reporter during Friday night’s coronavirus task force update after she asked him to clarify what his son-in-law Jared Kushner meant by saying the federal stockpile of medical equipment was “our” stockpile and not the states’ stockpile.
“‘Our’ means the United States of America. That’s what it means,” Trump told CBS News’ Weijia Jiang after accusing her of trying to stage a “gotcha” moment.
“Our. Our. It means the United States of America. And then we take that ‘our’ and we distribute it to the states,” the president continued.
Jiang continued to push Trump on the issue, asking him to clarify if the states should be able to have access to the federal stockpile.
“So,” she asked, “who are we giving it to if it’s not for the states?”
“To keep for our country because the federal government needs it, too. Not just the states,” Trump replied, adding that the medical stockpile had nearly 10,000 ventilators that were going to be sent across the country.
Apparently frustrated with Jiang’s line of questioning, Trump told her that she should be ashamed for asking the question.
“It’s such a basic, simple question and you try to make it sound so bad. You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” he told her. “You know what? You ought to be ashamed.”
“You just asked your question in a very nasty tone,” he added while trying to move on to the next reporter. “I gave you a perfect answer. You know it.”
Trump has a habit of using the word “nasty” when he’s interacting with women who do not agree with him or who question him. Just last month, he told PBS News reporter Yamiche Alcindor that her question was “nasty” when she asked why the administration disbanded a pandemics team on the National Security Council in 2018.
