Trump Bails on Briefing Through Blizzard of Questions About Surging Coronavirus, Russian Bounty Intel

President Donald Trump strode through a blistering barrage of shouted questions as he exited an ostensible “press briefing” without answering any of the queries on topics like the surge in coronavirus cases and the scandal over Russian bounties on U.S. soldiers.

On Friday morning, Trump made a hastily-arranged appearance in the Brady Briefing Room to tout the June jobs report, which saw the economy recover a 4.8 million chunk of the jobs that were lost due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Trump spoke for about 15 minutes, declaring victory over the economic effects of the pandemic and ignoring the recent surge in cases, continued to reference the “China virus,” and cheered the reopening of businesses across the country.

He ended by saying “I’m honored to be your president, thank you very much,” and walked off amid a dense fusillade of questions from reporters.

“Cases are rising across the country,” one reporter could be heard shouting, while ABC News’ Jonathan Karl asked if there had been “information about the Russian bounties in your PDB?”

Karl and other journalists took to Twitter to criticize Trump for leaving without taking questions.

After making his statement, Pres Trump departs the lectern without taking any press questions, again. It’s not a “press conference” if the President doesn’t take questions. @stevenmnuchin1 and Kudlow stayed behind for Q&A. pic.twitter.com/5cTnOtP5Fy

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) July 2, 2020

The president left his “news conference” without answering a single question. pic.twitter.com/DSKzqCogqf

— jonkarl (@jonkarl) July 2, 2020

After making comments on jobs report and resurgence of virus, Trump leaves what WH billed as a “news conference” without taking questions. He has done this repeatedly in recent weeks.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 2, 2020

Some also tied Trump’s performance with that of former Vice President Joe Biden, who did take questions after making a speech this week.

.@JoeBiden has held a news conference this week. @realDonaldTrump has not. https://t.co/dmLqbm9ORG

— jonkarl (@jonkarl) July 2, 2020

Trump’s campaign have been railing about Biden not taking questions from press, today the president held a “news conference” and didnt take one question https://t.co/hcyvHL57SX

— Will Steakin (@wsteaks) July 2, 2020

While Fox News and MSNBC carried Trump’s press event, CNN did not.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.