The Press Stories
Leslie Stahl recently criticized Donald Trump for one of the top advisers to his Corona virus task force, Dr. Anthony Fossie.
Stall: “You called Dr. Fucci and the other health officials idiots, I wonder-“
Trump: “Dr. Fucci – where did I call him, where did I call him an idiot? What? Where did I call him an idiot?”
Stall: “You called them idiots.”
The question was raised here during Mr Trump’s phone call with campaign staff earlier this week. The campaign called for reporters to be heard.
“People say, ‘Leave us anyway,’ and they’re tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fossie and all these idiots,” Mr Trump said in the call.
“Fucci is a good guy. He’s been here for 500 years.
“Fucci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we would have 500,000 deaths. ”
Trump: “Well, he’s done a lot wrong. I like him, but he’s done a lot wrong.”
Stall: “I wonder if you think masks don’t work.”
Trump: “Well Dr. Fucci said first-“
Stall: “What do you mean? Are you saying masks don’t work?”
Trump: “This is a very complicated matter. I can tell you that you mentioned Dr. Fossi. Dr. Fossi told me not to wear masks, and then he said wear them.”
Stall: “What do you think?”
Trump: “I think masks may work, but of course, you want to stay away from a certain distance, social distance, etc. But I would say a mask works, I have nothing against masks, and I tell people to wear masks.”
Stall: “Tell me about these rallies you’ve been holding.”
Trump: “A lot of people wearing masks-“
Stall: “No people! And I’ll see all these people crowded together, I see most of them without masks. I’m surprised by the message you send with these pictures.”
Trump: “Look, yesterday we were in Arizona. Achievement rallies. Number of people like no one has ever seen before. So many, so many masks.”
Mr Trump’s rally was actually in North Carolina yesterday (he was in Arizona earlier this week). Picture of the meeting here.
Things got worse when Stall decided to challenge Mr Trump’s claim that his rallies were creating a record crowd.
Stall: “You held big rallies.”
Trump: “No, these are bigger than I had.”
Stall: “I don’t want to-“
Trump: “You know, you’re very negative, you’re very negative. These are the biggest rallies we ‘ve ever seen. You’re coming here with that negative attitude. These are the biggest rallies we have ever seen. Having numbers like we do not have.”
Stall: “Tell me about the masks.”
Trump: “Sorry, no, but you made a statement. We’re more excited now than we were before. Always. You’ll see it in a short time.”
The Trump campaign did not release attendance figures, so we do not know the specific crowd size he is currently drawing. They obviously do in the thousands.
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