An Australian reporter has been praised for confronting Donald Trump in a "car crash" interview which left the US President floundering.
Axios's national political correspondent Jonathan Swan sat down with Trump to talk about the COVID-19 pandemic in an interview which aired on Monday.
Swan has been commended for being calm and questioning Trump mid-sentence, rather than moving on between questions as previous interviewers have done.
In the interview, Swan questioned Trump's handling of the pandemic, and his repeated downplaying of it's severity.
The United States currently has the most cases of the virus in the world - 4.7 million- and 2 million more than second-placed Brazil.
The country's death rate has also continued to climb to 156,000 and is reporting nearly 1000 deaths per day.
"Right now, I think it's under control," Trump said.
"How? A thousand Americans are dying a day," Swan interjected.
"They are dying, that's true. And you ha— It is what it is," Trump replied. "But that doesn't mean we aren't doing everything we can. It's under control as much as you can control it. This is a horrible plague that beset us."
"You really think this is as much as we can control it? A thousand deaths a day?" Swan said.
"I'll tell you, I'd like to know if somebody... First of all, we have done a great job," Trump replied, before bemoaning the lack of praise in the media for the country's high testing rates.
Trump went on to claim some people had said "you can test too much" for COVID-19 but Swan questioned "who?".
"Oh, just read the manuals. Read the books," Trump replied.
"Manuals? What manuals?"
"Read the books. Read the books."
"What books?"
"What testing does-"
"No, I'm sorry, who says-"
In another part of the interview, Trump claimed the United States infection numbers are so high due to increased testing.
"We're testing so much because we had the ability to test, because we came up with – Jonathan, we didn't even have a test. When I took over, we didn't even have a test."
"Why would you have a test?," Swan answered. "The virus didn't exist! How would you have a test?"
Swan has been praised for his handling of the interview and questioning of Trump's assertions.
CNN's Daniel Dale said by using basic follow-up questions, Swan "demolished some of Trump's most dishonest talking points".
He said it was a "powerful tactic".
Political commentator Frank Luntz tweeted: "Jonathan Swan is one of the best live interviewers on the planet".
"Listening to answers, thinking on his feet, and asking relevant follow-up questions. (Rather than moving on after an answer is completed.)"
