White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump was “excited” presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden had “emerged from the basement” wearing a mask on Memorial Day, despite a tweet from the president mocking his mask.
“The president tweeted or retweeted something which seemed to be criticizing Joe Biden for wearing a mask over the weekend. Was that his intention?” Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason asked during Tuesday’s White House press briefing. “And if it was, why would he criticize that?”
McEnany responded, “Look, the president is excited to see that Joe emerged from the basement. It is a bit peculiar though that in his basement, right next to his wife, he’s not wearing a mask, but wearing one outdoors when he’s socially distant. So I think that there is a discrepancy there.”
“He’s not shaming anywhere,” she added. “As the president noted himself, he wore this mask in private at the Ford facility, and he said he’s open to it if the circumstance mandates it.”
The reporter pushed back, “Isn’t the guidance to wear a mask when you’re outside?”
“The guidance is recommended but not required,” McEnany replied. “So it’s the personal choice of the individual, but it didn’t strike him as a very data-driven decision in that particular instance.”
The president retweeted a post from Fox News’ Brit Hume on Monday which showed Biden in a face mask along with the caption, “This might help explain why Trump doesn’t like to wear a mask in public.”
The Centers for Disease Control recommend wearing face masks “in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.”
Watch above via Fox News.
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