UPDATE (5/11/20 6:15pm EST): Donald Trump got combative with Weijia Jiang during a May 11 COVID-19 news conference. She asked him why he seemingly makes the U.S. COVID-19 testing progress into a global competition against other countries. He then told the Chinese-born, Asian-American journalist that her question was “nasty” and repeatedly told her to “ask China” about testing. She followed up, asking “Sir, why are you saying that to me specifically? That I should ask China?” and Trump fired back, “I’m not saying that to you specifically. I’m saying that to anybody who would ask a nasty question like that.”
CBS News’ White House female reporters are really getting under President Donald Trump‘s skin with their tough questions. First Paula Reid, 37, was called “fake” for refusing to back down after asking Trump about his lack of response to COVD-19 virus during February. Now Weijia Jiang, 35, has been patronized and scolded by Trump for another tough question about his late response to the virus. Trump later told her to “Keep your voice down,” and “Nice and easy. Nice and easy, just relax,” in an arrogant way he that doesn’t usually address to male reporters.
“Many Americans are saying the exact same thing about you, that you should have warned them the virus was spreading like wildfire through the month of February, instead of holding rallies with thousands of people,” Weijia said during an Apr. 19 news conference. “Why did you wait so long to warn them and why did you not have social distancing until March 16?” she asked. Trump demanded to know “who are you with?” He then talked about his late January travel ban on incoming flights from China. “Chinese nationals. But by the way, not Americans who were also coming in from China,” Weijia corrected the president. “Nice and easy. Nice and easy, just relax,” he patronizingly scolded her after she caught him in his misinformation. You can see the rest of the exchange in the video below. We’ve got five things to know about Weijia Jiang.
1. Weijia joined CBS news in 2015. After working for several CBS news local affiliates, Weijia made the jump from New York’s WCBS-TV to the network level. She has contributed to the CBS Evening News, CBS This Morning and CBSN, CBS News 24 hour streaming service.
2. Weijia has followed her passion for journalism since she was 13-years-old. She started her career a student reporter and anchor for Channel One News in Los Angeles. The news service was streamed into junior high and high school classrooms across the nation, with teens providing national and world news for other teens. It’s the same news service that gave CNN’s Anderson Cooper his break into journalism in the early-mid 90s. Journalist Lisa Ling is also a Channel One alum.
3. Weijia was born in China but raised in the United States. She was born in Xiamen, China, and grew up in West Virginia after her restaurateur parents emigrated to the United States when she was a toddler. She still considers herself a native of the state, including “Chinese born West Virginian” in her Twitter profile.
CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang does an EXCELLENT JOB putting trump's feet to the fire and sticks to why didn't he warn Americans instead of rallies and golf.
He tried to pivot to the China ban and DEM debate, but she wasn't having ANY of it.
This was 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥!!! pic.twitter.com/SrwD7kkWjZ
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) April 19, 2020
So I asked him about what he was doing in February. (Rallies.)
And what he has to say to the many Americans who wonder why he did not warn them sooner that the virus was spreading like wildfire at the time.
(He told me to relax.) https://t.co/IW0IKKkBJ7— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) April 20, 2020
4. Weijia is highly educated with a university background in chemistry. She graduated from Virginia’s College of William and Mary in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a minor in chemistry. Coincidentally, her CBS News White House colleague Paula Reid — who has also irritated Trump with her tough questions — graduated the same year from the same college. Weijia then went on to receive a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Syracuse University in 2006.
5. Weijia is married and has a daughter. She wed Washington D.C.-based YELP executive Luther Lowe on March 17, 2018 in Palm Springs, CA. They have a young daughter named Frankie Mei, born in Jan. 2019. The pair met in 2003 as co-eds in college and were close friends. They started dating in 2015 after reconnecting years later.