Journalists Defend NBC Reporter After ‘Unfounded’ Attack By Trump

NBC News journalists on Friday defended NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander, who asked President Trump what his message was to Americans who were afraid in the face of businesses closing and the coronavirus spreading across the country. “I say you’re a terrible reporter, that’s what I say,” said Trump, who continued to bash both Alexander, NBC News, and parent company Comcast.

In an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell afterwards, Mitchell said President Trump had “exploded” and wondered how Alexander had remained professional in the face of a personal attack by the President of the United States. “In TV terms, we call this a softball. I was trying to offer the president an opportunity to reassure the millions of Americans, members of my own family, neighbors in my community and plenty of people sitting at home right now,” Alexander said. “This was his opportunity to do that, to provide a positive or uplifting message. Instead, you saw the president’s answer.”

And many of Alexander’s colleagues—and competitors as well—lined up to defend the question as perfectly fair, while calling Trump’s answer out of line.

NBC News colleague Kelly O’Donnell called the president’s attack on Alexander “unfounded” and

“I sat in that room for just shy of ten years. It was a perfectly valid question,” said CNN’s John King during a broadcast Friday afternoon. “What the president did to Peter Alexander is reprehensible. The people are looking for answers. They do want hope. They do want support.”