‘Very low energy’: CNN anchors react to Trump’s subdued White House briefing start
NEW: Immediately following president Trump's press appearance, CNN cuts away and claims that much of what the president said "was not true."
— E X X ➠A L E R T S (@ExxAlerts) January 20, 2026
They also claim that it was "very low energy" in the beginning.
"There was a lot of what the president said that was not true." pic.twitter.com/igbXMXZKhu
WASHINGTON, DC: CNN anchors Brianna Keilar and Erica Hill said they were surprised by President Donald Trump’s “very low energy” start to a press conference on Tuesday, January 20.
The nearly two-hour event, held one year into his second term, opened with Trump focusing on media coverage and immigration.
Brianna Keilar notes Trump’s low-energy start
The briefing, which lasted 104 minutes, began with President Trump speaking at length before taking questions.
Brianna Keilar noted that it “was a very long press conference that President Trump just held, one year into his second term in the White House. Almost two hours, I think it was, almost two hours,” but said the president was “not so much” energetic at the start.
She also observed that he kept “coming back to the topic of immigration, but he was covering a lot of different things in his characteristic weave.”
Keilar added that while Trump “ended a little bit more energetically,” the opening portion, when he did not take questions, stood out to her for its lack of energy.
Erica Hill questions Trump’s focus, notes
Erica Hill agreed that President Trump appeared “very low energy in the beginning” and seemed to be “reading” his remarks.
She pointed out that he appeared to get lost in his notes, adding that “at some points he was going back to things that he had already addressed.”
Hill noted that he was “reading them off of the booklet” he had brought with him, while she wondered whether he “didn’t remember that he talked about them already” or if he simply “wanted to go back to them” intentionally.
CNN fact-checks Trump’s briefing claims
The anchors also noted that there was “a lot that we need to fact-check” because “there was a lot of what the president said that was not true.”
CNN reporter Daniel Dale then joined the segment to list several allegedly “fictional” figures cited by the president, including a claimed “$18 trillion investment” and a “600% reduction” in drug prices.
Dale also addressed the president’s claim that he ended “eight unendable wars.”
On the economy, Dale said Trump “inherited 3% inflation,” rather than the “historic high” the president described. She added, “he inherited 3% inflation, just a little bit above where it is now, although it did hit about a 40-year high in June 2022, more than two years before he returned to office.”
