'Presidents are supposed to lead': Biden says Trump refusing to wear a mask in public amounts to 'stoking deaths'

• Former Vice President and 2020 presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden slammed President Donald Trump for retweeting a photo mocking Biden for wearing a mask, calling Trump an "absolute fool."
• Biden and his wife wore face masks during a Memorial Day ceremony on Monday in Delaware. Meanwhile, Trump has refused to wear a mask and has been photographed without a mask when touring factories producing PPE amid the pandemic.
• "Presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine," Biden told CNN's Dana Bash, his first in-person interview since the pandemic put his campaign on hold.

Former Vice President and 2020 presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden slammed President Donald Trump for refusing to wear a mask, in spite of expert recommendation, during an interview with CNN that aired on Tuesday.

"Presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine," Biden told CNN's Dana Bash, his first in-person interview since the pandemic put his campaign on hold.

Biden wore a black mask Monday during a Memorial Day ceremony in Delaware. Fox News host Brit Hume tweeted a photo of the former vice president with the caption, "This might help explain why Trump doesn't like to wear a mask in public," which Trump retweeted.

In response, Biden called the president an "absolute fool," and accused him of fueling opposition against wearing masks despite "every leading doc in the world is saying we should wear a mask when you're in a crowd."

"This macho stuff, for a guy — I shouldn't get going, but it just, it costs people's lives," Biden told CNN. "It's costing people's lives."

—CNN (@CNN) May 26, 2020

Later Tuesday, the former vice president changed his Twitter profile picture to the photo shared by Hume and Trump.

—Rob Flaherty (@Rob_Flaherty) May 26, 2020

Trump has consistently refused to wear a mask and is often pictured touring factories and plants producing masks and ventilators amid the pandemic without a mask. He wore a mask in private during a visit to a Ford factory, but removed it late because he said: "didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it."

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters in a press briefing Tuesday that it was "peculiar" that Biden doesn't wear a mask indoors where he is social distancing with his wife, but chooses to wear one outside in public.

"It is a bit peculiar, though, that in his basement, right next to his wife, he's not wearing a mask," McEnany said during the briefing. "But he's wearing one outdoors when he's socially distant. So I think that there was a discrepancy there."

Doctors and health experts have recommended wearing a face mask or facial covering when going to public places but said it was unnecessary to wear a mask around people you are quarantining with.

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