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Donald Trump ordered a reporter to remove his mask, but the journalist refused during a confrontation at the White House.
The US president interrupted Reuters’s Jeff Mason, despite the reporter speaking clearly, to tell him that his question was too muffled.
Despite Trump being visibly irritated by his subsequent refusal to remove his mask in the press pool, Mason simply raised his voice even louder.
After initially starting to speak, Trump said, “You’re going to have to take that off, please. You can take it off. How many feet are you?”
When Mason said he would speak louder instead, the president said, “Well, if you don’t take it off, you’re very muffled, so if you take it off it would be a lot easier.”
(Image: REUTERS)
However, Mason stood his ground and raised his voice, asking, “Is that better?” to which Trump rolled his eyes and replied “yes.”
Later, when another reporter did remove his mask to speak, the president told him, “You sound so clear.”
Trump confronted Mason in a similar debate in May and told him he was trying to be “politically correct” by keeping his mask on.
The president was not photographed in public wearing a mask until mid-July during a visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, having previously said it was not necessary.
At the time, Trump insisted that “he’s never been against masks,” but in April he had said: “I don’t think I’m going to. Wear a face mask while greeting presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens. I just don’t see it. “
It comes after he urged supporters at a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on Thursday to wear masks during the Labor Day holiday weekend before berating Democratic rival Joe Biden for “liking” them too much.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The couple increased their rhetoric yesterday as the presidential campaign entered its traditional home stretch.
Trump described Biden, whom he follows in national polls, as a threat to the economy and “stupid,” while Biden pointed to Trump’s allegations of downed troops.
At a press conference at the White House, Trump said: “Biden and his very liberal running mate [Kamala Harris]The most liberal person in Congress by the way – not a competent person in my opinion, it would destroy this country and destroy this economy. “
Trump also once again rejected a report in The Atlantic that he had referred to downed US soldiers as “fools” and “losers,” calling it “a hoax.”
The story has dominated news coverage for days and threatens Trump’s support among veterans and members of the military, a key voting bloc.
“There is no one who has more respect not only for our military, but for the people who gave their lives in the military,” Trump said.
Biden cited comments reported while campaigning in Pennsylvania.
Referring to his son Beau Biden, who served in Iraq as a member of the Delaware National Guard and died of brain cancer in 2015, he said: “Beau was not a loser or a fool … He served with heroes.”
Trump has struggled to change the contours of the campaign despite highly charged rhetoric about racial polarization and “law and order.”
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