At Monday’s White House coronavirus task force press briefing, President Trump called on a reporter. She uttered, “Only last week, there were multiple flights coming from China full of medical supplies. Companies like Huawei and Alibaba have been donating to the United States, like 1.5 million N95 masks and also a lot of medical gloves, and much more medical supplies.”

The president smelled a con job. He stated, “Sounds like a statement more than a question,” followed by, “Are you cooperating with China?” She dithered. “Who are you working for, China?” Trump pressed. “Who are you with?”

The reporter said, “Um, no, I’m working for— Hong Kong Phoenix TV,” to which Trump inquired, “Who owns that? China?” Her reply: “It’s based in Hong Kong. It’s a privately owned company.”

Notice the dodge on the question. It turns out, according to Fox News, “Within minutes of the exchange in the briefing room, consultant Elliot Schwartz flagged that in 2018, a former Phoenix TV news director testified as part of an FCC filing that the outlet is essentially controlled by China’s Communist Propaganda Department, and follows a directive to not report positively on the United States.

“Specifically, that former TV news director, Chung Pong, remarked: ‘I know from personal experience that Phoenix TV‘s content is subject to the dictates of the leadership of the Central Communist Propaganda Department, Central Communist Overseas Propaganda Office, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which often directly sent instructions to Phoenix Satellite TV.'”

This is a week after the group that controls what media are present at press briefings, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), tried to kick out the conservative One America News Network because the WHCA didn’t like the positive questions OANN was posing to the president. OANN is still there as a personal guest of the White House press office.

So the WHCA tries to make sure conservatives don’t have a voice at the briefings, but lets in agents of the Chinese Propaganda Department. Such are the priorities of the ultra-liberal White House Correspondents’ Association.