ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl joined the growing chorus of criticism of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for the suggestion that some journalists “can’t contain their glee and delight” in reporting the U.S. now has more confirmed coronavirus cases than China.
Rubio made the assertion, without evidence, on Twitter Sunday:
Karl initially fired back with this post:
Other members of the media were similarly outraged:
Karl, who President Donald Trump on Friday told not to “be a cutie pie” after the journalist quizzed the president during his daily press briefing on the availability of ventilators, doubled down on Monday’s broadcast of “The View” and called on Rubio to apologize.
“It is outrageous. It is wrong. It is hurtful,” said Karl, whose new book “Front Row at the Trump Show” is released this week. “I called out Sen. Rubio, and I’ll do it again now to say, who are you talking about, Senator?”
“That tweet hit just after my friends, our friends at CBS News learned that one of their colleagues, one of their co-workers, died from coronavirus. A colleague at NBC died of coronavirus,” Karl noted.
CBS News producer Maria Mercader and NBC audio technician Larry Edgeworth both died after complications from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
“We have two members of the White House press corps who are now suspected to have coronavirus. Who does Marco Rubio think is taking joy and glee at more people being sick?” asked Karl. “That’s an outrageous statement, it’s a hurtful statement.”
Check out the segment here: