President Trump campaign calls out NBC reporter Peter Alexander before coronavirus briefing: 'You're a terrible reporter'

President Donald Trump viciously attacked an NBC News reporter who asked what his message would be to Americans who are frightened by the coronavirus pandemic that is spreading across the country.

The exchange, which occurred at the White House's daily coronavirus task force briefing, began when NBC News reporter Peter Alexander asked Trump whether he was giving Americans "false hope" by touting unproven coronavirus drugs.

Toward the end of the exchange, Alexander cited the latest pandemic statistics showing thousands of Americans are now infected and millions are scared.

The question from NBC’s Peter Alexander was “What do you say to Americans who are scared now. Nearly 200 dead, 14,000 who are sick. Millions, as you’ve witnessed, who are scared right now. What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?”

Trump, shaking his head, ripped into Alexander in response:

I say that you're a terrible reporter. That's what I say. I think it's a very nasty question and I think it's a very bad signal that you're putting out to the American people. The American people are looking for answers and they're looking for hope. And you're doing sensationalism. The same with NBC and Concast - I don't call it Comcast I call it Concast, for whom you work.

Let me just tell you something. That's really bad reporting. And you ought to get back to reporting instead of sensationalism. Let's see if it works. It might and it might not. I happen to feel good about it but who knows. I've been right a lot. Let's see what happens.

 Wow. That was amazing. But even if you don’t think so, you have to admit that Trump is clearly trying to offer the American people hope in a time when they need it and that truly is a wonderful thing to see.

As I’m writing this I see another video where Alexander is following up, accusing Trump of being overly optimistic and giving people a false sense of hope. Trump responds again with a very reasonable answer:

Alexander asks “Is it possible that your impulse to put a positive spin on things may be giving Americans a false sense of hope and be misrepresenting the preparedness right now?”

Trump responds:

"No I don't think so. ...Look, it may work and it may not work. And I agree with the doctor, what he said. It may work and it may not work. I feel good about it. That's all it is, just a feeling. You know, I'm a smart guy, I feel good about it. And you're gonna see soon enough. And we certainly have some very big samples of people if you look at the people. We have a lot of people who are in big trouble.

And this is not a drug that obviously - I think I can speak from a lot of experience because it's been out there for over 20 years. So it's not a drug that you have a huge amount of danger with. It's not like a brand new drug that's been just created that may have an unbelievable, monumental affect, like kill you. We're gonna know very soon. I can tell you the FDA is working very hard to get it out. Right now in terms of Malaria, if you want it you can get a prescription. You get a prescription. And by the way, it's very effective, it works.

I'm not being overly optimistic or pessimistic. I sure as hell think we ought to give it a try. There's been some interesting things happening, some very good things. Let's see what happens, we have nothing to lose. You know the expression, what the hell do you have to lose?"

And, Peter Alexander on being called 'terrible reporter': I was just pitching Trump a 'softball' question: