A tweet from CNN White House reporter Kaitlan Collins went viral on Thanksgiving as she celebrated with a crowd of other reporters about getting President Trump to answer questions from the press.
Collins and the handful of assembled reporters were mocked online for gathering closely together during the shot amid the pandemic, and for celebrating getting Trump to answer questions while many members of the press ignored Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his pick for vice president, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), largely avoiding taking questions from reporters during the campaign.
“If this was a thanksgiving dinner it’d be a crime in some states,” Joe Simonson, a campaign reporter at The Washington Examiner tweeted.
If this was a thanksgiving dinner it’d be a crime in some states https://t.co/8LtEIxC2uK
— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) November 27, 2020
“Where is the photo of the crew that can get Joe Biden to answer one?” media critic Stephen Miller said.
Where is the photo of the crew that can get Joe Biden to answer one? https://t.co/P9xxg8Us4c
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) November 27, 2020
“From an optics perspective in terms of an argument around objectivity, this wasn’t a good idea,” Joe Concha, media critic for The Hill, said.
From an optics perspective in terms of an argument around objectivity, this wasn’t a good idea: https://t.co/y7HDh8LqKt
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) November 27, 2020
“This is not Kaitlan’s fault or any of the WH Press Corp (because they cover the WH) but I do hope we see this same enthusiasm in getting real Q’s to Biden,” National Republican Senatorial Committee Senior Adviser Matt Whitlock tweeted. “Biden went weeks at a time without taking questions (in peak campaign season) and Kamala Harris went literally months.”
This is not Kaitlan’s fault or any of the WH Press Corp (because they cover the WH) but I do hope we see this same enthusiasm in getting real Q’s to Biden.
Biden went weeks at a time without taking questions (in peak campaign season) and Kamala Harris went literally months. https://t.co/QGrhqRlpA4
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) November 27, 2020
Trump took questions from the press while sitting behind a desk in the Diplomatic Room of the White House on Thursday. During the presser, Trump said he would concede the election to Biden if the electoral college voted to certify a Biden victory.
“Certainly I will, and you know that,” Trump said when asked about potentially exiting the White House, according to CNN. “I will and, you know that.”
“It’s going to be a very hard thing to concede because we know there was massive fraud,” Trump claimed. “As to whether or not we can get this apparatus moving quickly – because time isn’t on our side, everything else is on our side, facts are on our side, this was a massive fraud.”
Trump reversed himself the next day, posting on Twitter that “Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous ‘80,000,000 votes’ were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. When you see what happened in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia & Milwaukee, massive voter fraud, he’s got a big unsolvable problem!”
Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous “80,000,000 votes” were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. When you see what happened in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia & Milwaukee, massive voter fraud, he’s got a big unsolvable problem!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2020
Twitter tagged the president’s post with a warning: “This claim about election fraud is disputed.” Media outlets project Biden winning the 2020 election with 306 electoral votes. Trump’s legal team continues to pursue avenues through the courts to overturn alleged voter fraud and highlight unequal treatment before votes are certified.
Asked if Trump would attend the Biden’s inauguration if Biden is eventually named the president of the United States, Trump said he did not want to reveal his plans.
“I don’t want to say that yet,” Trump said, according to The New York Times. “I know the answer, but I just don’t want to say.”