CNN's David Gregory calls out Donald Trump's 'ego and insecurity' after attack on press at coronavirus briefing

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Imogen Braddick14 April 2020

A CNN reporter has called out Donald Trump's "temperament issue" after he lashed out at the press during an extraordinary daily press briefing.

During the press conference on Monday, the US president played a campaign-style video produced by White House staff, made up of news clips praising the his response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Some news channels, including CNN, cut away from the live coverage of the briefing, calling the video "propaganda".

Reporters asked Mr Trump why the video had been made, using time and resources which would be better spent elsewhere.

Mr Trump replied: “Because we’re getting fake news and I like to have it corrected."

The president snapped at reporters who questioned the administration's steps in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, calling one reporter "fake" and "disgraceful".

"You know you're a fake, your whole network," Mr Trump said to Paula Reid, a White House correspondent from CBS, in response to her question about preparing hospitals and ramping up testing.

Later, calling the media "guilty", he said: "We really have done this right. The problem is, the press doesn't cover it the way it should be."

It comes as the death toll in the US from Covid-19 topped 23,000 on Monday, out of more than 575,000 infections.

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After the briefing, CNN's David Gregory called for Mr Trump to "take responsibility", rather than just "asserting authority".

Speaking with CNN host Don Lemon, he said: “The president, to me, if you really pick apart this briefing today, this is a temperament issue.

"You can agree or disagree with his decision-making. You can say, ‘Wow, he really missed weeks here, missed some opportunities, maybe it costs lives but let’s move forward.’

"But what you see out of the president is what Gloria [Borger] alludes to, this is a temperament issue where he’s consumed with ego and insecurity and people saying bad things about him."

He added: “By the way, he’s not the first president to deal with an annoying press corps that constantly asking you questions and holding you accountable and bringing up your previous words against you.

“As Tim Russert would say when I worked at NBC when I worked for him: ‘Any leader worth his or her salt can take the tough question'.

"Not this president. Not with his temperament. Not with that lack of responsibility and defensiveness.”

It comes as Mr Trump claimed he has “total” power to lift the nationwide coronavirus lockdown in the US despite state governors planning their own reopenings.

Pressed on the question of whether governors or federal government would make the decision to re-open schools and businesses, the US leader insisted he had ultimate authority.

"The president of the United States calls the shots," Mr Trump told a White House briefing on Monday evening.

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