Washington [US]: United States President Donald Trump on Monday abruptly ended his press conference on coronavirus following an altercation with two women reporters.
According to the Hill, Trump took questions from a reporter for nearly 40 minutes praising his administration for its response to coronavirus but abruptly ended it after heated exchanges of words with two reporters -- CBS reporter Weijia Jiang and CNN's Kaitlan Collins.
When Jiang, who is of Chinese descent, asked Trump why he seems, at times, to view the COVID-19 pandemic as a "global race"? After not responding to the question directly, he advised her to "go ask China" the same question, The Hill reported.
"Well, they're losing their lives everywhere in the world, and maybe that's a question you should ask China," Trump responded. "Don't ask me. Ask China that question, OK? When you ask them that question, you may get a very unusual answer." "Why are you saying that to me specifically?" asked Jiang, who was born in China and raised in West Virginia.
"I'm not saying it specifically to anybody. I'm saying it to anybody that would ask a nasty question like that," Trump replied before moving on to another reporter. The president has frequently blamed China for the outbreak, suggesting the country could have stopped the spread of the coronavirus had it acted sooner.
Later, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins approached one of the microphone stands designated to ask questions, but Trump shot her down several times.
"But you called on me," Collins said. When she kept trying to ask a question even as he called on another journalist, Trump abruptly ended the press conference.
