Elon Musk Attacks CNN For Report His Ventilators Weren’t Delivered: ‘Surprising CNN Still Exists’ (UPDATED)

Charlie NashApr 16th, 2020, 10:56 am
 

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attacked CNN on Thursday after the network claimed in a report that Tesla’s promised ventilators were never delivered to hospitals in California, citing a statement from California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office.

“Three weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he had obtained more than 1,000 ventilators to help California hospitals treating patients infected with the coronavirus, the governor’s office says none of the promised ventilators have been received by hospitals,” reported CNN. The story invited Musk’s wrath on Twitter.

“What I find most surprising is that CNN still exists,” the billionaire responded, asking Governor Newsom to “please fix this misunderstanding.”

Musk then posted screenshots of two emails purportedly showing the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services confirming receipt of the ventilators.

“They worked great during testing today. We will put these to use tomorrow,” the Department told Tesla on March 27th.

Other screenshots showed two hospitals also thanking Tesla for “the generous gift.”

“These ventilators will be quickly deployed in our hospital in anticipation of the coming wave of patients who will be suffering from the most severe effects of COVID-19,” one hospital wrote. “Your gift gives us a fighting chance.”

“I literally have the receipts!! This is so dumb,” Musk added.

CNN has not yet updated its article with Musk’s response.

UPDATE: CNN’s Head of Strategic Communications Matt Dornic responded to Musk’s tweet by writing, “Weird to attack CNN for what the CA governor’s office said – especially when your own spokespeople at Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment. Seems like your outrage should, uh, be directed at the entity that made the claim, not the one that reported it. U new to this?”

“Perhaps you are unaware that Twitter has a search function? The hospitals *themselves* acknowledged receipt of ventilators,” Musk shot back, prompting Dornic to question, “Are you referring to sleep apnea machines that the American Society of Anesthesiologists warn ‘may increase the risk of infections transmission.’ If so, you have a press office. Why not just have them respond to the numerous inquiries from reporters?”

Dornic also went on to claim that Musk is producing no ventilators at all.

In a follow-up article on Friday, CNN reported that it had “contacted 10 California hospitals identified by Musk in the partial list of recipients he posted on Thursday,” and of “the four hospitals that responded, all said they had received bilevel positive airway pressure (biPAP) or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines — devices that can aid breathing and be used for sleep apnea. None had received ventilators.”

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