WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump startled White House reporters on Monday by airing a video at his daily coronavirus briefing that sounded like a campaign re-election advert.

Despite a US death toll of 23,200,Trump insisted his administration had superbly mitigated the damage, at one point even claiming that his actions saved “tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of lives.”

To the shock of reporters gathered for his briefing on the pandemic, Trump played a self-congratulatory, anti-media video during the press conference. —AFP