Trump Faces Intense Grilling From Savannah Guthrie, Says He Can’t Recall If He Took Covid Test Day of Debate
Savannah Guthrie opened NBC’s town hall with President Donald Trump with an intense interrogation on his medical status, his coronavirus leadership, and everything in between.
After Guthrie kicked off the event by recapping how Trump’s second debate with Joe Biden fell apart (it had been scheduled for tonight) she turned to Trump’s recent hospitalization with Covid-19. She asked Trump how severe his symptoms were and “did the doctors ever tell you that they saw pneumonia on your lung scan?”
“I didn’t feel good,” Trump replied, noting his lungs may have been infected.
Guthrie moved on to the timing of Trump’s diagnosis, asking “when was your last negative test? When did you last remember having a negative test?”
The White House has refused to reveal when Trump last tested negative for the virus before it was announced he had contracted it. When Trump diverted the question, Guthrie followed up by asking if he was tested the day of his first debate with Biden.
“I don’t know, I don’t even remember. I test all the time,” Trump said. Guthrie continued to press him for a specific answer on this topic, and after Trump said he “probably” tested before the debate, she tried asking him “do you take a test every single day?”
“No,” Trump answered, “but I take a lot of tests.
“And you don’t know if you took a test the day of the debate?” Guthrie asked.
“Possibly I did, possibly I didn’t,” Trump said, who continued to say he felt fine during the debate.
Guthrie moved on after that by bringing up the super-spreader event at the White House where Trump, his allies, and multiple top Republicans seemed to contract the coronavirus. She pointed out how the event failed to uphold numerous public safety guidelines, and then she asked “at this point in the pandemic, knowing what we know, shouldn’t you have known better? Shouldn’t the White House know better than to hold an event like that?”
Trump responded by bringing up the White House’s testing policy (which clearly failed to protect everyone), then diverted to claim that the CDC released a study saying “85% of the people that wear masks catch it.”
“They didn’t say that. I know that study,” Guthrie interjected, to which, Trump said “That’s what I heard and that’s what I saw.”
The pressing continued as Guthrie brought up Chris Christie’s regret for not wearing a mask, Trump’s recent in-person event with gold star family’s, plus the United States’ coronavirus rates compared to other countries.
Watch above, via NBC.
