President Donald Trump shut down CNN showman Jim Acosta’s attempts to insinuate strange conspiracies at Friday’s Presidential press briefing on the response to the Chinese coronavirus epidemic. Acosta demanded that the President reveal the exact location of Dr. Anthony Fauci, apparently believing that the federal medical advisor had been shut out of the coronavirus response.

President Trump had been discussing attempts to marshal medical facemasks from 3M, combating attempts by the nominally American company to export the needed equipment to foreign countries for profit. Acosta tried to divert from the relevant topic at hand with irrelevant questions about the participants of the press briefing.

“Where is Doctor Fauci?”

Watch the exchange here:

“Every time he’s not here… Sometimes I’ll ask him to come because that’s the first question that you and a couple of others from the fake news establishment ask… We’re doing great together.”

Of course the President isn’t required to account for the whereabouts of Dr. Fauci at all times. Key federal personnel overseeing the pandemic response have a wide range of responsibilities that prevent them from being present at every single daily press briefing.

Trump went on to line up Acosta for what likely would’ve been another political and irrelevant question, savagely telling the CNN operative to “Go ahead Jim, try another one.”

As Jim Acosta tries repeatedly to derail attempts to provide the American public with vital information about the federal coronavirus response, it’s probably worth considering temporarily (or permanently) suspending his press credentials in order to allow the near-daily briefings to focus upon policy substance.

Acosta has been suspended from the White House press pool before, following disruptive attempts to derail substantial briefings with political nonsense.