White House cancels coronavirus task force briefing after Trump's disinfectant comments

White House.
(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The White House is scrapping Monday's coronavirus briefing and teasing a "new look" for them going forward.

After President Trump was widely criticized for floating the idea of injecting disinfectants to treat COVID-19 during Thursday's briefing, a comment he later claimed was sarcastic, the White House on Monday canceled a coronavirus briefing that was set for 5 p.m. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said there will be some briefings this week but that they "might have a new look to them, a new focus to them," CNN's Betsy Klein reports.

The day after Trump's disinfectant comments, he held an unusually short briefing and took no questions, and held no briefings over the weekend. Axios reported on Friday that Trump was planning to "pare back" coronavirus press conferences as numerous advisers "have urged him to stop doing marathon televised briefings," telling him he's "overexposed" and that they're hurting him in the polls. The New York Times examined Trump's coronavirus briefings and other remarks and found that "by far the most recurring utterances from Mr. Trump in the briefings are self-congratulations, roughly 600 of them, which are often predicated on exaggerations and falsehoods."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

CNN also reported that there's been "a concerted effort" among Trump's aides and allies to get him to stop conducting daily briefings, a report McEnany denied on Monday, telling Fox News "the media needs to not read into what's happening." Trump himself over the weekend questioned the "purpose" of the coronavirus task force briefings, declaring them "not worth the time and effort!"

Among those recommending Trump scale things back is former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who told Good Morning America on Monday, "The American people are shut in for the most part, and they don't need to see the same person every day for two hours." Brendan Morrow

Update 1:30 p.m. ET: Shortly after the briefing was removed from the schedule, the White House reversed and said Trump "will brief the nation" today regarding additional coronavirus testing guidance.

Explore More
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.