In his first TV interview since Election Day, President Donald Trump continued his unsubstantiated claims.
Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo conducted the interview with Trump on Sunday night.
In the interview, it appeared Trump was unwilling to acknowledge Joe Biden won the election. Bartiromo, who has worked in television news for 25 years, did not challenge many of Trump’s statements. Oliver Darcy, CNN’s senior media reporter for “Reliable Sources,” said that stance could be damaging.
“News organizations — and I think Fox claims to be one — have a responsibility,” Darcy said. “The president of the United States is trying to overturn the election. ...Frankly, there is not much daylight between Maria and [Infowars conspiracy theorist] Alex Jones.”
Donald Trump on COVID-19
As of Sunday, there were more than 13 million COVID-19 cases in the United States and more than 266,000 in the United States have died from COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
In the interview, the president discussed his role in the drug companies’ vaccine trials.
“I came up with vaccines that people didn’t think we’d have for five years,” Trump said. In fact, pharmaceutical companies — including Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Novavax — created the vaccines.
The Trump administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” funded some pharmaceutical companies’ research, development and the eventual distribution of the vaccine, but some companies with successful vaccine trials — such as Pfizer — did not participate in the administration’s program.
The president’s interview came after weeks of making no public comments.
Biden, the president-elect, has filled several Cabinet positions and made public appeals to Americans about curbing the surge in coronavirus cases.
“I know the country has grown weary of the fight. We need to remember we are at war with the virus, not one another. Not with each other. This is the moment where we need to steal our spines, redouble our efforts and recommit ourselves ... we are all in this together,” Biden said during an address prior to Thanksgiving.
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