‘How Dare You’: CNN’s John King Laces Into Trump, Argues He Essentially Told CBS Reporter to ‘Shut Up’

CNN’s John King condemned President Donald Trump for scolding CBS reporter Weijia Jiang over the “legitimate” question she tried to ask at his latest White House press conference.

When Trump took questions from the press on Sunday, Jiang tried to ask the president about Americans who feel like he should’ve done more to warn the country about the coronavirus instead of holding rallies in February.

“Why did you wait so long to warn them, and why did you not have social distancing until March 16?” Jiang asked. She tried to press further when Trump deflected to the travel restrictions he imposed on China (which still allowed 40,000 people into the U.S.), and he responded by telling her “Nice and easy. Just relax. We cut it off. People were amazed, these gentlemen. Everybody was amazed I did it.”

The exchange continued with Trump telling Jiang “keep your voice down” when she tried to ask follow-up questions and respond to his statements. The back-and-forth was one of several explosive moments from Sunday’s presser, not the least of which was when Trump stormed at CNN’s Jeremy Diamond for asking if an ongoing health crisis was the time for the right time for self-praise.

King reviewed the presser on Monday for CNN Newsroom and observed that Trump responds to tough questions about his pandemic response by more or less claiming, “I was perfect. My team are perfect. We are great. How dare you ask anything about our performance.” He went on to say that Trump’s exchange with Jiang came after she asked him a “very good, very honest and very legitimate accountability question.”

“It is a perfectly fair question about administration policy, her correction of the president was factually correct, and he says ‘keep your voice down,'” King said. “Let me translate, he’s essentially saying shut up, how dare you”

Dana Bash, who called the exchange evidence of how Trump treats female reporters differently from men, agreed that “[Trump] does not like to be challenged by anybody, especially reporters, especially at a time when he realizes his leadership is on the line.”

Watch above, via CNN.

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