When Donald Trump ‘Shushed’ a Journalist for Interrupting Him During a Press Conference

Former President Donald Trump is passionately pursuing the path of hopefully securing a position as a candidate for the Republican Party. He’s reportedly performing quite well so far, both financially and in the GOP debates. Trump appears to have honed the skill of keeping an audience actively engaged, given his experience often addressing the public. But, at the same time, he also greatly appreciates when people pay attention to him when he speaks.

In the past, Trump had an altercation with a journalist who interrupted him during a statement. This incident dates back to 2020, when COVID-19 brought the world to a near standstill and Trump was President at the time.

The former President held a press conference to address the various implementations to prevent further spread of the deadly virus. Apart from precautions, Trump also highlighted the measures in place for foreigners entering the United States. During this conference, a reporter, Weijia Jiang from CBS News decided to get a little more information on his preventive measures to curb the virus.

She began by quoting a claim made by the public as reported by The New York Times: a desire to be warned ahead of time when “the virus was spreading like wildfire instead of holding rallies with thousands of people.” Jiang followed it up by asking Trump for a reason behind the wait through the month of February.

After listening to her, he asked Jiang which publication she worked for, but was ignored on the first try as Jiang continued her question. She asked, “Why did you not have social distancing until March 16th?” After patiently waiting, Trump asked once more, “Who are you with?” and this time she responded with a brief introduction of herself and the media hub she represented. 

On hearing her answer, Trump attempted to explain his actions in “banning China” from entering the United States at the crux of the pandemic. But Jiang corrected him to refer to the people of China as ‘Chinese nationals'; she also pointed out that the people Trump banned were all ‘Chinese-American citizens. As Jiang continued to speak, Trump urged the reporter to take it “nice and easy” and for her to “just relax”.

A small banter between them went on, with each of them desperately attempting to get their points across. But it came to a brief pause when Trump asked Jiang about the statistics concerning the case count and deaths due to COVID-19 when he announced his ban. Without missing a beat, Jiang chimed in while Trump was still making his point, which visibly irritated the then-President.

He sternly cautions her, “Keep your voice down, please.” At this instruction, she acknowledged him and allowed him to elaborate on the matter. The heated conversation ended with Trump himself revealing the aforementioned statistics and asking her to instead “thank him” for good judgment.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on October 18, 2023. It has since been updated.