President Donald Trump had a freakout on Tuesday morning and Monday night after several female journalists at his press briefing went to bat for one another in wake of a racist comment he’d made to one of them.
“Fake Journalists!” Trump tweeted on Tuesday with a video of the scene, which involved CBS News correspondent Weijia Jiang, CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins, and PBS correspondent Yamiche Alcindor.
He had also fumed about the three reporters late Monday night.
“The Lamestream Media is truly out of control,” Trump tweeted. “Look how they work (conspire!) together.”
During Trump’s Monday press briefing on COVID-19, Jiang asked the President why he keeps bragging about the U.S. supposedly having more testing ability than any other country in the world when Americans are still dying from the virus.
“Well, they’re losing their lives everywhere in the world, and maybe that’s a question you should ask China,” Trump told Jiang, who is of Chinese descent. “Don’t ask me. Ask China that question. When you ask them, you may get a very unusual answer.”
He then tried to move on by calling on Collins, who allowed Jiang to continue speaking.
“Sir, why are you saying that to me specifically?” Jiang asked Trump, who denied doing so and claimed she had asked a “nasty question.”
Collins tried to speak, but Trump ignored her and called on Alcindor, who let Collins ask her question.
“I just wanted to let my colleague finish,” Collins told Trump, prompting him to abruptly end the briefing.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much,” he said before storming off.
Several hours later, Jiang thanked her colleagues via Twitter.
“I am fortunate to work alongside them,” she wrote.
