Donald Trump turns combative during stormy coronavirus press conference
- When given a chance to reassure Americans who might be anxious, the president lashes out at reporter who asked the question
- Trump also gives contradictory responses when asked about his invoking of emergency powers to produce much-needed medical supplies
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that private companies including carmakers had begun producing essential medical supplies days after he invoked rarely used emergency powers, but he declined to offer details on whether the firms were obeying orders or acting voluntarily.
Trump’s remarks about the 70-year-old Defence Production Act came amid a stormy press conference in which he sparred, at times angrily, with reporters over whether he was giving Americans a false sense of hope by seeking to put a positive spin on efforts to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic – including the use of an antimalarial drug that has yet to go through clinical trials.
Asked whether he had tapped into the emergency powers he invoked on Wednesday, Trump said: “We have millions of masks which are coming and which will be distributed to the [states that] are having a hard time getting them… So we are using the act, the act is very good for things like this.”
Asked multiple times for details on which companies were involved and whether they were responding to a directive, he offered contradictory responses. At one point he said he had not yet starting using the powers.
“So far we haven't had to. It’s an amazing thing that has happened, we're getting calls from automobile companies, we're getting calls from other companies saying they have plant capacity they want to make ventilators and they want to make other things,” he said.