President Donald Trump’s mic was left on before and after he delivered a national speech on Wednesday night, March 11, on the United States response to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The cameras were also left running throughout and what ended up on camera were an unfiltered and unvarnished look at how Trump normally behaves off-camera.
Before the speech
In an address from the Oval Office, Trump announced a 30-day ban on travel by foreign nationals to the US from most of Europe.
However, C-SPAN inadvertently caught Trump in the moments before he delivered the speech.
“Oh f***,” Trump said with a sigh as his microphone was on before delivering the speech.
He said while touching his white shirt: “Uh-oh, I’ve got a pen mark.”
He then asked his staff for “any white stuff” to cover the stain.
Several Twitter users posted the event online:
After the speech
C-SPAN also recorded several seconds after Trump delivered his speech, given that the cameras were still rolling.
“Okay,” Trump said as he dragged out the word with a sigh.
He then began to remove his mic from his lapel.
The cameras continued rolling for another 10 seconds before the stream got cut.
Trump’s comments came hours after the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.
You can also watch The Daily Show With Trevor Noah's take on this:
In the clip, Trump was also shown drinking soda before the address and talking about whether having an open book in front of him or having it tossed to the side of the table was better.