President Donald Trump is sparring with CNN’s Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta yet again.
During Monday’s press conference, Trump fired back at Acosta in response to a question about his past remarks about the coronavirus.
Acosta noted the multiple occasions when the president made statements suggesting the coronavirus was not as bad as the media claimed. He even noted that Trump insisted the virus would disappear.
“What do you say to Americans who are upset with you over the way you’ve downplayed this virus?” Acosta said before repeating Trump’s previous remarks. “‘We have it under control in this country. The coronavirus is very much under control in the U.S.A. It’s going to disappear. It’s like a miracle. It will disappear.'”
Acosta went on to note specific dates of more remarks Trump made leading up to the surge in coronavirus cases.
The president quickly responded by saying his statements were “all true” and part of his attempt to “keep the country calm.”
“It will go away. You know it is going away. It will go away and we’re going to have a great victory,” Trump told Acosta. “It’s people like you and CNN that say things like that. It’s why people don’t want to listen to CNN anymore. You could ask a normal question. The statements I made are, ‘I want to keep the country calm.'”
See the full exchange between Trump and Acosta:
The president continued with another claim about causing panic, telling Acosta he could “cause panic much better” than him.
“I don’t want panic in the country. I could cause panic much better than even you,” Trump said. “I would make you look like a minor league player. But you know what? I don’t want to do that.”
Trump went on to reiterate that coronavirus “will go away.”
“I want to have our country be calm and strong and fight and win and it will go away,” the president said.