House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized President Donald Trump on Sunday over his response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying “his denial at the beginning was deadly,’ and that people are dying, “as he fiddles.”
“We should be taking every precaution. What the President, his denial at the beginning was deadly,” she told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“I don’t know what the scientists said to him, when did this President know about this, and what did he know? What did he know and when did he know it? That’s for an after-action review. But as the President fiddles, people are dying. And we just have to take every precaution.”
When asked if she believes Trump’s minimization of the pandemic is costing American lioves, Pelosi said, “Yes, I am. I’m saying that.”
“Because when he made the other day when he was signing the bill, he said just think 20 days ago everything was great. No, everything wasn’t great,” she added. “We had nearly 500 cases and 17 deaths already. And in that 20 days because we weren’t prepared, we now have 2,000 deaths and 100,000 cases.”
When asked about Trump’s suggestion of relaxing social distancing guidelines to boost the economy, Pelosi said, “His delaying of getting equipment to where it — it continues his delay in getting equipment to where it’s needed, is deadly. And now I think the best thing would be to do is to prevent more loss of life rather than open things up, because we just don’t know.”
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert and member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, said he’s “not against releasing the restrictions as long as the proper measures such as efficient testing are in place.”
“I’m actually for it, in an appropriate place. But I don’t recommend it unless we have the tools in place in real time to do the things I just said,” he said. “If we can do that, we can keep things contained without slipping into the need of having to mitigate the way they are in New York, in New Orleans, and other places now. So it’s doable. But it’s only doable if you put the tools in place.”
