Donald Trump is going after the media for what he believes is kid-glove treatment of his opponent, saying they are giving Joe Biden questions “meant for a child.”
The president lodged the attack during a press briefing on Friday in which he vehemently denied a report claiming he had disparaged U.S. service members. As he was grilled by reporters over a series of reports that he referred to dead troops as “losers” and questioned why they should be revered for their sacrifice, Trump turned on members of the media and claimed that the Democratic Party’s candidate was not questioned equally as intensely.
“I watched the interview with sleepy Joe Biden and … you didn’t ask questions like that,” Trump said, via The Hill . “They were like, meant for a child. Those questions were meant for a child. Smiles on faces of reporters — not like you and you.
“They were smiles on the reporters. What do you think? Take a look at those questions that they asked him. They were not meant for a grown up, they were meant for a child.”
The president added that he thinks it’s “a disgrace” that his opponent was not being given equally tough treatment while he was facing intense questioning over a story that he referred to as a “hoax.”
Both Trump and top officials in his administration have said there is no truth to the report from Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic claiming that Trump had spoken poorly of the troops and skipped a ceremony in France for American troops who died there in World War I because he did not want to get his hair wet in the rain.
Trump had claimed he was unable to attend the ceremony because the weather prohibited him from flying in his helicopter, and the Secret Service would not allow him to be driven there. He reiterated that claim this week in denying the allegations from The Atlantic . Trump also denied that he disparaged Arizona Sen. John McCain after his death from brain cancer.
The report has since been corroborated by a number of other news outlets, including Fox News , and led to widespread condemnation by the president’s critics. Biden’s campaign has seized on the allegation as well, creating a campaign ad slamming Trump for the alleged comments.
The Democratic candidate also released statements praising U.S. service members for their sacrifices and saying that he did not believe his own now-deceased son was a “sucker” for joining the armed services, as Trump reportedly claimed of military men and women.
