Vice President Mike Pence is refuting the accusations that President Donald Trump “belittled the threat of the coronavirus.”
Pence spoke with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday where the CNN host mentioned Trump’s past response to the coronavirus — suggesting the president was “belittling the enormity of this crisis” previously — and asked the vice president about a possible nationwide stay-at-home order. However, Pence offered a strong response to Blitzer’s “belittling” remark.
“Well, Wolf, respectfully I take issue with two things that you just said,” Pence said. “I don’t believe the president has ever belittled the threat of the coronavirus.”
“I think he’s expressed confidence that America will meet this moment,” Pence continued. “And the American people can be assured that President Trump is going to continue to be confident that we will meet this moment.”
Check out Pence’s remarks:
Pence’s comments follow a string of reports highlighting Trump’s previous remarks about the coronavirus.
During multiple press conferences, Trump has faced criticism for his remarks that suggested he downplayed the outbreak.
A recent, intense exchange on-camera captured Trump’s heated exchange with CNN’s Jim Acosta, IJR previously reported.
Acosta asked Trump about some of his past remarks and read them out loud. The president quickly fired back at Acosta, insisting his previous statements were an effort to “keep the country calm.”
“It will go away. You know it is going away. It will go away and we’re going to have a great victory,” Trump told Acosta. “It’s people like you and CNN that say things like that. It’s why people don’t want to listen to CNN anymore. You could ask a normal question. The statements I made are, ‘I want to keep the country calm.’”
See the exchange below:
During the interview with Blitzer, Pence also echoed similar sentiments about Trump as he described him as “an optimistic person.”
“We have been hoping for the best but planning for the worst,” the vice president said.