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President Donald Trump heaped scorn on several members of the White House press corps at a coronavirus briefing Friday, but made a point of responding to questions from a new reporter in the briefing room: His former press secretary.

“Mr. President, two questions if you would indulge me,” Sean Spicer said when Trump pointed a finger to call on his former aide.

Spicer, of course, is the former White House and Republican National Committee spokesman who vigorously defended Trump’s inauguration crowd size claims and regularly tangled with reporters during combative White House briefings before his ouster in a 2017 shakeup. He also took a spin on “Dancing With The Stars.”

Spicer now has his own political talk show for the conservative Newsmax TV outlet. By the time Trump entered the White House Briefing Room to address reporters Friday, Spicer was set to press his old boss for presidential reaction to small business anxieties and reports that senators unloaded stocks before a pandemic-sparked market downturn.

The surreal scene played out moments after the president castigated NBC’s Peter Alexander for suggesting that Trump may be giving Americans “a false sense of hope” about coronavirus treatment, asking what he would say to Americans who are scared or sickened by the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

“I say that you are a terrible reporter. That's what I say,” Trump told Alexander. “I think that's a very nasty question, and I think it's a very bad signal that you're putting out to the American people. The American people are looking for answers, and they are looking for hope. And you are doing sensationalism.”

Trump’s attacks on the news media are a familiar tactic at his campaign rallies and press conferences. After a brief détente earlier this week, the president lashed out at the media again during Thursday’s briefing. Friday's spat with Alexander, juxtaposed with Spicer’s presence on the other side of the podium, further heightened the strains with the press corps.

Ultimately, Trump used Spicer's questions to praise his administration's response to small businesses hammered by the outbreak and defend senators who reportedly sold stock before markets tanked in response to the pandemic, though he made sure to call out only one of them — a California Democrat — by name.

© Alex Wong/Getty Images Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer sits among members of the press as he waits for the beginning of a news briefing on the latest development of the coronavirus outbreak on Friday.

"I saw some names. I know all of them. I know everyone mentioned," Trump replied to Spicer. "Dianne Feinstein, I guess. And a couple of others. I don't know too much about what it's about, but I find them to all be very honorable people. That’s all I know. And they said they did nothing wrong. I find them — the whole group, very honorable people."

Friday's exchanges didn't sit well with some other reporters.

"What the president did to Peter Alexander is reprehensible," CNN anchor John King declared after Friday's press conference.

"It was striking that this came, this, forgive me, bulls*** attack on fake news came just moments after the secretary of State said the American people have to be careful about where they get their information and go to sources they can trust."