President Donald Trump took a swipe at how Democrats and the media are reporting and reacting to information about the Coronavirus on Saturday.
“Our country is prepared for any circumstance. We hope it's not going to be a major circumstance. It'll be a smaller circumstance. But whatever the circumstances, we're prepared,” Trump said during a press conference in Washington.
“And I'd like to just ask and caution that the media, we would respectfully ask the media and politicians and everybody else involved not do anything to incite a panic. Because there's no reason to panic at all. This is something that is being handled professionally.”
Trump was later asked about claims he called the Coronavirus a "hoax." Following some media reports and Democratic politicians claiming that he referred to the Coronavirus as a hoax.
“Hoax, referring to the action that they (Democrats) take to try and pin this on somebody because we've done such a good job. The ‘hoax’ is on them. Not -I'm not talking about what's happening here. I'm talking what they are doing. That's the hoax,” Trump said.
“That's just a continuation of the hoax, whether it's the impeachment hoax or the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, this is what I'm talking about. Certainly not referring to this. How could anybody refer to this? This is very serious. But the way they referred to it, because these people have done such an incredible job and I don't like it when they are criticizing these people. And that’s the hoax, that’s what I’m talking about," Trump said.