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President Trump on Wednesday lashed out at a media report a day earlier that said Centers for Disease Control & Prevention chief Dr. Robert Redfield had predicted a second wave of coronavirus that could be even deadlier.

“I do want to mention, Dr. Robert Redfield was totally misquoted in the media about the fall season and the virus. Totally misquoted. I spoke to him and he said it was ridiculous,” the president said during the daily Coronavirus Task Force briefing at the White House.

“He was talking about the flu and coronavirus coming together at the same time, and we will knock it out. We’ll knock it out fast. That’s what he was referring to, coming together at the same time,” Trump continued.

“I would ask Dr. Redfield to straighten out. He didn’t say it was a big explosion. The headline in the Washington Post was ridiculous, which is, as I say, ‘fake news’ and CNN is fake news, which they knew.”

Redfield then clarified his remarks, while confirming that he had been quoted accurately in the DC paper but saying that the headline was misleading.

“I think it is important to clarify this as we build the confidence of the American people. When I commented yesterday there was a possibility of a fall-winter [outbreak] to be more difficult, more complicated, and we had two respiratory illnesses circulating — flu and the coronavirus,” he said.

“But it is important to emphasize. I didn’t say this was going to be worse. I said it was going to be more difficult, and potentially complicated because we will have flu and coronavirus circulating at the same time.”

He said he issued the warning to inspire people to be more vigilant and get a regular annual flu shot.

That point was also emphasized earlier by new White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

“What he said was that flu will re-emerge in the fall, everyone needs to go out there and get a flu shot,” McEnany said.

“The media has completely taken that out of context to say that coronavirus will strongly reemerge in the fall. That was not what he was trying to say. He had an emphasis on the flu, being responsible, getting your flu shot, all Americans should do that. But again, leave it to the media to take him out of context.”