President Donald Trump poked fun at a Reuters' reporter who was wearing a mask while inside the Oval Office, just weeks after many at the White House tested positive for COVID-19 at a superspreader event.
Trump's remark was made about Reuters' Jeff Mason on Friday afternoon as he attempted to ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a question during the Oval Office pool spray.
Netanyahu was participating in the chat via conference call where there were roughly 40-50 people in the Oval Office, according to the White House pool report.
'This is Jeff Mason,' Trump explained to Netanyahu, relaying Mason's question. 'He's got a mask on that's the largest mask I think I've ever seen.
'So I don't know if you can hear him,' he added before telling the prime minister what he thought of the situation in the Middle East.
Many in the Trump administration snickered at the remark. Several people in attendance could be seen not wearing masks, Mediaite reports.
The remarks from the president come a few weeks after he, wife Melania and son Barron Trump, and many within the Trump administration came down with the virus after attending a superspreader event.
It also comes as Dr. Anthony Fauci revealed that President Trump has not attended a White House Coronavirus Task Force meeting for several months, despite the fact COVID-19 cases are surging and several states are recording record spikes.
Fauci revealed the news during an interview with MSNBC's Chuck Todd on Friday, just hours before he appeared on CNN where he advocated for a nationwide mask mandate for the very first time.
Trump has repeatedly hit out at Fauci in recent weeks, describing the infectious diseases expert as a 'disaster' and an 'idiot' who has 'made mistakes' and flip-flopped on mask wearing.
It comes as the CDC revealed that COVID cases are on the rise in nearly 80 percent of US states and territories.
On Friday, the country recorded more than 70,000 new cases of the virus, taking the total number of infections to 8.45 million. More than 223,000 Americans have died from the disease.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
