President Donald Trump shared a Long Island news reporter’s video in which he was berated by protesters demonstrating stay-at-home orders. In a tweet, Trump also wrote on of the chants from the demonstrators, “Fake News Is Not Essential!”
Trump typically attacks the media as “fake news,” but it is typically aimed at national news outlets that are his targets.
The video had been posted by Kevin Vesey, a reporter for News 12, a 24-hour news network in Long Island, NY. He was covering the demonstrators at a protest on Thursday, but found himself the source of their attacks. At least one of the demonstrators in the video had a Trump banner, and others had campaign hats and shirts.
Vesey later explained what happened in a lengthier video chat. He had been capturing the protest for Facebook Live, in addition to covering the protest for the news channel. He said that he grew up in the Commack, NY, area and said, “This certainly is not indicative of everyone from that area.”
After Trump’s tweet, Vesey wrote, “unreal.”