Donald Trump has said "I don't know" when asked whether he would accept government financial help for any of his family businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

Asked at a White House briefing on the pandemic on Saturday afternoon, the president said: "I don't know. I just don't know what the government assistance would be for what I have. I have hotels.

"Everybody knew I had hotels when I got elected. They knew I was a successful person when I got elected so it's one of those things."

He was speaking shortly after the New York Times reported that Mr Trump's family business had closed Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Florida, cut staff at hotels in New York and Washington, closed golf courses in Los Angeles and Miami and halted new reservations at a hotel in Las Vegas.

He added: "As far as the hotels and everything is concerned, I have to do what everyone else is doing. I would probably decide to close things up ... You don't want people getting together and hotels and everything, you get together.

"So I have many of them – hotels, clubs, things like that where people get together."

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