Sen. Marco Rubio on China's coronavirus disinformation campaign: They were worried about their image
China turned the coronavirus outbreak into a PR campaign instead of a public health effort, says Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Republican member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl slammed Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on Monday for an “outrageous” tweet accusing the media of "grotesque" coverage of the U.S. exceeding China in reported coronavirus cases.
Karl even called on Rubio to apologize for his controversial tweet.
For weeks, China and Italy had led the global count of reported coronavirus cases as the U.S. saw a drastic increase of its own numbers between the spread of the disease and the growing availability of testing kits.
MARCO RUBIO CALLS REPORTING ON US EXCEEDING CHINA IN CORONAVIRUS CASES 'GROTESQUE'
Last week, the U.S. officially had more reported cases than any nation in the world and Rubio, a fierce critic of China, blasted the media's coverage Sunday, suggesting they are too trusting of China's self-provided data.
ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl urged Sen. Marco Rubio to apologize for a tweet that accused journalists of taking glee and delight when reporting U.S. exceeding China in coronavirus cases.
"Some in our media can’t contain their glee & delight in reporting that the U.S. has more #CoronaVirus cases than #China," Rubio tweeted. "Beyond being grotesque, it's bad journalism."
He continued, "We have NO IDEA how many cases China really has but without any doubt it's significantly more than why [sic] they admit to."
Karl was asked about Rubio’s tweet on Monday during an appearance on “The View” and the veteran reporter didn’t hold back.
“It is outrageous. It is wrong. It is hurtful. I called out Senator Rubio, and I’ll do it again now to say, who are you talking about, senator?” Karl said. “Senator Rubio, apologize for that."
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“That tweet hit just after our friends at CBS News learned that one of their colleagues, one of their co-workers, died from coronavirus. A colleague at NBC died of coronavirus. We have two members of the White House press corps who are now suspected to have coronavirus,” Karl continued. “Who does Marco Rubio think is taking joy and glee at more people being sick? That’s an outrageous statement. It’s a hurtful statement”
Karl then called the tweet an example of “misinformation” intended to divide Americans.
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
“We’ve got to put a pause on that kind of talk now,” Karl said.
Last week, Karl was the reporter that President Trump warned not to be a “cutie pie” during a coronavirus briefing.
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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