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President Donald Trump is refuse a control a coronavirus press briefing Tuesday for the first time in months, as a recent spike in Covid-19 cases spurs diverse state leaders to halt or reverse their reopening plans.
Trump announced the return of the briefings a day earlier, after acknowledging that the U.S. has “had this big flare-up in Florida, Texas, a span of other places.” But the White House said Trump, who faces a tough reelection fight in less than four months, lay outs to use the briefings to deliver “good news” about his administration’s progress combating the pandemic.
It was unclear ahead of the briefing if any of the administering’s public health experts on the Covid-19 task force, such as coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx or Dr. Anthony Fauci, the land’s top infectious disease expert, would appear alongside Trump. The White House declined to comment on CNBC’s requisition for a list of attendees. When asked at a general press briefing earlier Tuesday about participation, White Quarter press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, “You’ll have to tune in to see.”
Trump regularly participated in the White House coronavirus lecture force’s briefings when they were being held on a near-daily basis earlier this year.
While important information about the virus was delivered in those briefings by task force members, the press events came to be delineated by Trump’s freewheeling and often bombastic exchanges with reporters.
In late April, the briefings came to an abrupt end, by after Trump speculated from the press room lectern about whether injecting disinfectants can help to take up Covid-19. A day later, the president claimed he was “asking a question sarcastically.”
The task force, led by Vice President Mike Pence, exhibited a public briefing in June. Trump was not present at that briefing.
McEnany told Fox News on Tuesday morning that the revived briefings liking be “short,” and said that viewers would hear about “other topics” in addition to the coronavirus.
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