Donald Trump has rowed with a reporter after asking him to take his face mask off during a press conference at the White House.
President Trump told Reuters reporter Jeff Mason to take off his mask at a White House press conference, saying he was "very muffled."
He said: "You’re going to have to take that off, please. How many feet are you away? Well, if you don’t take it off, you are very muffled. So, if you would take it off it would be a lot easier..."
READ MORE: Donald Trump finally wears mask in public during coronavirus pandemic
.@realDonaldTrump scolds a reporter for wearing a mask:
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) September 7, 2020
"You’re going to have to take that off, please.
How many feet are you away? Well, if you don’t take it off, you are very muffled. So, if you would take it off it would be a lot easier..." pic.twitter.com/64l8N0yLdq
Reuters reporter Jeff Mason refused to do so but told the President that he would simply talk louder.
Mason was asking President Trump about his explanation behind a story that appeared in Atlantic magazine which claimed he made disparaging remarks about US service members who have been captured or killed, including that he described US war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France in 2018 as “losers” and “suckers”.
READ MORE: Donald Trump denies calling war dead 'losers' and 'suckers'
Later in the news conference, Trump remarked that one reporter who did remove his mask sounded "so clear. As opposed to everybody else, where they refuse."
"You sound so clear, as opposed to everybody else where they refuse" -- Trump praises a reporter for not wearing a mask pic.twitter.com/AA8pz6v4ob
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 7, 2020
Trump refused to wear a face-covering at the start of the pandemic only first being pictured wearing one in July during a visit to a military hospital.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article