Watch: Trump gets into heated exchange with journalists

Updated: December 13, 2024 - 5:28am

<p>President Donald Trump sparred with several reporters, including NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander during a White House press briefing Friday.</p><p>Alexander asked the president about what his message would be to Americans who are frightened by the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>“I say that you are a terrible reporter,” Trump responded. “That’s what I say.”</p><p>The exchange began when Alexander cited the latest pandemic statistics and asked if Trump's “impulse to a put positive spin on things may be giving Americans a false sense of hope” by touting a potential treatment.</p><p>“You’re doing sensationalism. And the same with NBC and Comcast. I don’t call it Comcast. I call it ‘Con-Cast.’ Let me just tell you something. That’s really bad reporting. And you ought to get back to reporting instead of sensationalism.”</p><p>PBS Newshours’ Yamiche Alcindor asked the president about the continued shortage of testing kits.</p><p>“There are Americans, though, who say they have symptoms and they can’t get tested,” she said. “What do you say…”</p><p>“I’m not hearing it!” Trump interrupted. “And we don’t want everybody to go out and get a test, because there’s no reason for it!”</p><p>Later, CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins asked Trump about his attack on Alexander.</p><p>“You see yourself as a wartime president right now, leading the country through a pandemic that we are experiencing,” Collins said. “Do you think going off on Peter, going off on a network is appropriate when the country is going through something like this?”</p><p>Trump responded, saying he’s “not a good journalist,” adding “Coming together is much harder when we have dishonest journalists.”</p>