Vice President Mike Pence is letting the American people know, President Donald Trump’s leadership during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic was “strong” and “steady.”
When he was asked if he knew of the president’s strategy to prevent panic during an appearance on Fox News, Pence said, “What I saw first-hand from that day in January in the Oval Office, when President Trump took the unprecedented step of suspending all travel from China, declaring a public health emergency, is that this president put the health of America first from day one.”
He continued, “But he also wanted to reassure the American people all along the way. There is that old saying from World War II in Great Britain, that ‘Keep calm, carry on,’ and that was the presidential leadership that I saw.”
Pence’s comments follow the release of an interview between Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward and Trump, where he said in regards to the coronavirus, “I wanted to always play it down,” as IJR previously reported.
The vice president stressed Trump’s comments were made four days after the economy was shut down.
Watch his comments below:
THE HEADLINER: "..Keep calm and carry on, that was the presidential leadership that I saw.." – @Mike_Pence weighs in on Trump firing back at Bob Woodward’s book, saying he downplayed the pandemic to show calm #nine2noon pic.twitter.com/XptvfMRqGi
— America's Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) September 10, 2020
He told host Sandra Smith Trump was “projecting the kind of leadership, the kind of confidence” in Americans and frontline workers “that you would expect from a president in a challenging time like this.”
Smith pressed Pence on whether Trump failed to help slow the spread of the coronavirus by not warning Americans of the dangers of it.
“Absolutely not, Sandra. I mean, look, again, I want to go back. But Joe Biden, the Democrats, and the World Health Organization criticized the president’s decision to suspend all travel from China,” Pence said.
He argued the United States starting working on a vaccine in the first week of February and the nation is on the way to having one by the end of this year.
Pence reiterated his praise for Trump’s coronavirus response.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the strong, steady leadership that President Donald Trump brought to this coronavirus pandemic from day one,” he said.
Trump admitted “in order to reduce panic, perhaps” he misled the American people on the pandemic, as IJR reported.