CNN's Anderson Cooper accuses Trump of 'hijacking' White House presser, trashes his response to outbreak
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CNN anchor Anderson Cooper had some harsh words for President Trump on Monday night, accusing him of "hijacking" his own White House coronavirus task force press briefing.
"If you tuned into it hoping you were going to hear from the country's top scientists, you were likely disappointed," Cooper began. "What you mostly heard was the president. And what you saw was a hijacking. A hijacking of the task force press conference by a president determined to rewrite the history of his early and reprehensibly irresponsible response to this virus. What the president showed us today is what the nation's top scientists have to deal with every day- a president who now uses these briefings as a reelection platform, an opportunity to lie, to deflect, to attack, to bully, and cover-up his own deadly dismissals of the virus for crucial weeks."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The CNN anchor condemned Trump for his treatment of reporters who were "attacked and belittled" and defended the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Christi Grimm, an Obama-era government official who released a report documenting widespread medical supply and testing availability shortages among hospitals.
"I just have to point out that this is not normal and it matters because this is life or death," Cooper scolded the president.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cooper, who previously served as a presidential debate moderator during the 2016 election, blasted Trump for claiming a "victory" over coronavirus testing and dismissed Trump's uplifting rhetoric when he told the country that there's a "light at the end of the tunnel," telling his viewers no one knows "how long that tunnel may be" or "how dim the light currently is."
He also rejected Trump's assertions that the governors are "happy," which he described as "life, according to the president."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The network has repeatedly chosen to skip much or all of the president's prepared remarks at the top of each briefing, telling viewers they are "anxiously" waiting to hear from medical experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx versus hearing from the president.
However, after it delayed its airing of Monday's briefing, CNN cut away roughly 45 minutes early just before President Trump handed the presser over to Vice President Mike Pence and the rest of the task force. Fauci and Birx spoke further to reporters, something CNN chose not to air.