Donald Trump Pressures Reporter To Remove Mask During Press Conference

Donald Trump has expressed anti-mask sentiments multiple times, despite also exhorting the public to wear them for safety and as an expression of patriotism. In a press conference Monday, the president first pressured one reporter to remove his mask, then praised another for being mask-free.

Reuters reporter Jeff Mason was trying to ask the president about comments he reportedly made in France, when a trip to the Aisne-Marne cemetery to honor fallen U.S. forces was canceled, ostensibly due to weather. However, new reports say that Trump said he didn’t want to go, and that he called U.S. military dead “losers.” As Mason began his question, Trump interrupted to ask him to remove his mask.

WATCH: President Trump told Reuters reporter Jeff Mason to take off his mask at a White House press conference, saying he was "very muffled." Mason refused and said he would just speak louder https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/MfrsjkXaeL

— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 7, 2020

You’re gonna have to take that off please. You can take it off. How many feet are you away? If you don’t take it off, you’re very muffled.

After several exchanges arguing with the reporter, who offered to just speak louder, Trump accepted that Mason was audible and moved on.

However, he returned to the subject later, when a reporter spoke without a mask, praising the individual for being clearer.

"You sound so clear, as opposed to everybody else where they refuse" — Trump praises a reporter for not wearing a mask pic.twitter.com/AA8pz6v4ob

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 7, 2020

You sound so clear, as opposed to everybody else, where they refuse.

Donald Trump has previously mocked Joe Biden for wearing a mask, but this week scolded Nancy Pelosi for failing to wear a mask when visiting a hair salon. In July, Trump shared a photo of himself in a mask and declared mask-wearing a patriotic activity, but has made multiple appearances without a mask since, and has held events with no social distancing among attendees, and few if any masks.