Gutfeld on Trump shattering the media ceiling
President Trump defends early virus actions during fiery press briefing.
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MSNBC briefly cut away from the coronavirus task force press briefing on Wednesday after President Trump introduced a video showing General Motors (GM) building ventilators to combat the pandemic.
In his prepared remarks, Trump touted his enforcement of the Defense Production Act on GM so that it can start manufacturing ventilators that have been needed in hospitals across the country.
"They did it in 11 days from start to finish, a remarkable testament to the ingenuity of the American worker. GM will ship over 600 ventilators this month alone with thousands of more to come," Trump said. "I think they said there's a brief clip that we have of General Motors -- sent to us by General Motors. I think they might be wanting to play that to your benefit."
The video, which began with a graphic explaining that 30,000 ventilators will be made by GM at its plant in Kokomo, Ind., between April and August of this year, showed the creation of the factory and assembly line of such critical machinery.
"I know you got a little bit nervous when you saw that there was a clip about ready to be played," Trump joked to reporters after the video finished. "But it was sent to us by General Motors and we thought it would be a good one to play. It's amazing, you know, what they've done in very, very short period of time."
However, MSNBC took precautionary measures as the video started playing.
"We're not going to go into videos. We don't know what kind of -- we had no editorial preview on that," MSNBC anchor Chuck Todd said.
MSNBC returned to the briefing shortly after the video concluded. CNN, meanwhile, continued its practice of not broadcasting Trump's prepared remarks.
CNN ACCUSED OF 'LITERALLY PUBLISHING CHINESE PROPAGANDA'
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany slammed the liberal networks for not covering the briefing straight through.
"While President @realDonaldTrump highlighted American workers producing ventilators for those in need, @MSNBC cut away. Worse, @CNN did not even take the whole first portion of the briefing. This is a disservice to all Americans seeking information from their government," McEnany tweeted.
On Monday, Trump sparked wild reactions with a rare video presentation featuring members of the media downplaying the outbreak leading up to the national crisis.
Trump, who repeatedly has defended his handling of the pandemic, showed a montage of the media's initial takes on the coronavirus outbreak, featuring clips from ABC News, NBC News and CBS News journalists and commentators expressing more concern about the flu than the disease that was plaguing China at the time.
CNN'S 'STRAIGHT NEWS' ANCHORS USING COROANVIRUS TO 'FLAUNT THEIR OWN DISDAIN' FOR TRUMP, CRITICS SAY
U.S. President Donald Trump shows a video produced by General Motors to promote their manufacturing of medical ventilators as he addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 15, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis - RC2A5G9P5TL5
The montage boasted the "decisive action" the president took with a timeline featuring his founding of the coronavirus task force, the travel restrictions on China and Trump's call to "accelerate" development for a vaccine for the virus in early March.
He then highlighted criticism he received from former Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., by playing an audio clip from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who acknowledged that it was "probably effective." Haberman later tweeted that the audio was "misleading."
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
That was followed by public remarks made by several governors, including Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y. and Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., all praising the Trump administration's response to their states' needs.
"We could give you hundreds of clips just like that. We have them," Trump told reporters after the video finished. "It's very sad when people write false stories."
Critics blasted Trump's video with CNN declaring the briefing a "propaganda session."