WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump startled White House reporters on Monday by airing a video at his daily coronavirus briefing that sounded like a campaign re-election advert. Despite a US death toll of 23,200, Trump insisted his administration had superbly mitigated the damage, at one point even claiming that his actions saved “tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of lives”. To the shock of reporters gathered for his briefing on the pandemic, Trump played a selfcongratulatory, anti-media video during the press conference. Several news outlets, which have taken to broadcasting most or all of the lengthy events live, quickly cut away. Asked why he aired the video, Trump was curt: “Because we’re getting fake news.” Trump has jousted with journalists for years, but his airing of the video appeared to mark a new point of conflict with the press corps. –AFP
