Trump cuts off question by CNN's Jim Acosta about US coronavirus death rate: 'Fake News CNN, hold it'
Trump claims Pence, WH task force 'have not been given the kind of credit' they deserve
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Trump told CNN reporter Jim Acosta to "hold it" on Monday when the latter asked him about the coronavirus death rate in the U.S. as it compared to other nations.
"The U.S. has so many deaths compared to so many countries around the world," Acosta said. Trump, in a reprise of his long-running criticism of the network, responded: "Fake News CNN, hold it."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We have done a great job in this country. We haven't been given -- and not me, I’m not talking about me," the president said. "The vice president, the task force, have not been given the kind of credit. If you look at countries all over the world are exploding right now -- people that you said were doing a wonderful job, so wonderful, but right now, take a look at the countries that are exploding.
"You have Italy back, you have Spain back, you have France back, you have Germany back, you have a lot of countries -- and that’s not to knock them," Trump added. "It is a very delicate, very contagious disease. It was released by China. It should never have been allowed to release. ... Now, they say that China is having a lot of problems. Moscow in Russia is having tremendous problems."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Johns Hopkins University data shows that each of those countries saw thousands of new coronavirus cases in the last week. However, Russia has seen 855 deaths and 38,204 new cases. After lockdown measures were eased in Spain, the country reportedly saw the number of cases triple.
By contrast, the U.S. saw 434,032 new cases and 7,925 new deaths over the past seven days.