Olivia Troye, homeland security and coronavirus adviser to Vice President Mike Pence until August, is suggesting there are some in the White House who are not convinced the coronavirus is a real threat to the nation.
“I think there are still people walking around the White House today who don’t actually believe this virus is real,” Troye said.
She added, “A lot of them disregard it even though, as you’ve seen, we’ve got over 7 million cases and we’ve lost a lot of lives here.”
The host of CNN’s “New Day,” John Berman, noted there allegedly was political pressure on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to change the guidelines on reopening schools.
Troye confirmed there was pressure on the doctors on the coronavirus task force to manipulate the data to “tell a story that was less grim than the reality really was.”
Watch her comments below:
"I think there are still people walking around the White House today who don't actually believe this virus is real."
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) September 29, 2020
Former VP Pence aide Olivia Troye says the White House pressured the CDC to change guidelines and tried to manipulate data to downplay Covid-19's impact in the US pic.twitter.com/4wEAIwHDG8
Troye accused those in the White House of tasking lower level staff to find “alternate data” to fit the narrative suggesting the coronavirus only affects Americans above the age of 75 and it does not affect school children.
Berman asked Troye if she was asked to be a part of this.
“I was and that’s partially why, that’s mostly why, I’ve spoken in the past about the moral struggle of what it’s like to be a part of this whole situation,” Troye said.
She continued, “You’re constantly trying to do the right thing. I’m a national security professional. I’ve been doing this for over two decades. Saving lives is what I’ve been focused on and protecting Americans and watching this happen first hand was very upsetting.”
Troye told the Washington Post she would vote for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden after witnessing the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, as IJR previously reported.