PRESIDENT Donald Trump told a reporter asking “muffled” questions to remove their mask at a press conference on Monday.
The president’s demand to a Reuters correspondent came at a Labor Day news conference at the White House.
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“You’re going to have to take that off, please,” Trump told reporter Jeff Mason after he tried to ask a question.
“How many feet are you away?” Trump asked.
The reporter then responded: “I’ll speak a lot louder.”
Trump began to argue with the reporter.
“If you don’t take it off, you’re very muffled. If you take it off, it’d be a lot easier,” Trump said of the reporter’s face mask.
Mason insisted on keeping his mask on.
“I’ll just speak a lot louder. Is that better?” he asked.
Trump sighed.
“It’s better, yeah. It’s better,” he said.
The reporter was trying to ask Trump a question about an article from The Atlantic, in which it was reported that Trump allegedly canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018 as it’s “filled with losers.”
Trump has denied the article as a “hoax.”
The reporter asked if Trump could understand why people had a hard time believing the claims, as he’d called John McCain – a Vietnam War veteran who was captured by the North Vietnamese – a “loser” in 2015.
“No, I can’t understand you,” Trump told the reporter.
Trump complimented another reporter for taking their mask off, CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller reported.
At the press conference, Trump said the military may not be in love with him – but American soldiers are.
“I’m not saying the military’s in love with me. The soldiers are,” Trump said.
“The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t because they want to do nothing but fight wars, so all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy.
“But we’re getting out of the endless wars. You know how we’re doing,” Trump said.
