Trump nominates a new foil -- the WHO

Unlike the President, the World Health Organization has warned for weeks about the gravity of coronavirus.

The WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International concern on January 30 after sending a team to Wuhan and to meet Chinese leaders in Beijing.

On the same day, at a rally in Michigan, the President said of the virus, "We think we have it very well under control."

But on Tuesday, the President lashed out at the global health body, claiming it had underplayed the threat of the virus and that he had got it right.

"We're going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO. We're going to put a very powerful hold on it," the President said in his briefing.

"They called it wrong. They missed the call. They could have called it months earlier," Trump said.

"It's a great thing if it works but when they call every shot wrong that's no good," he said, accusing the WHO of being biased towards China, which Republicans have accused of trying to cover up the virus.

Given the President's long timeline of false statements and predictions, that must go down as one of the most audacious comments of his presidency. It was also reflective of his own tendency to nominate an enemy and accuse it of the very transgression that he is accused of perpetrating.

He added to the confusion by denying that he had said that he would halt funding to the WHO -- a move that would be counterproductive in a pandemic and would undermine already compromised perceptions of US leadership on the crisis.

"I'm not saying I'm going to do it, but we are going to look at it," the President said.

The President was also unable to provide much clarity on the chaos afflicting the Navy, following the resignation of Thomas Modly. The acting Navy secretary quit a day after leaked audio revealed he called the ousted commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt "stupid" in an address to the ship's crew.

This came a little more than a week after Capt. Brett Crozier sent a memo warning of coronavirus spreading among the sailors. The memo leaked and Modly subsequently removed Crozier from command.

"I had no role in it. I don't know him but I've heard he was a very good man," the commander in chief said.

But Trump also rebuked Crozier.

"He didn't have to be Ernest Hemingway. He made a mistake but he had a bad day. And I hate seeing bad things happen."