House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is criticizing President Donald Trump’s latest coronavirus response efforts.
During a private conference call with Democratic lawmakers, Pelosi sharply condemned the Trump administration’s coronavirus response efforts, describing his plan to reopen the country prematurely as dangerous, according to Politico.
“The more misrepresentations he puts out there, the more it obscures the truth,” Pelosi reportedly told Democrats. “We have to insist upon the truth — what they’re saying is not knowledge, is not facts, is not real.”
Despite the coronavirus continuing to spread in cities and states all over the country, Trump is still mulling over the possibility of reopening the country.
While its no secret that the coronavirus outbreak is taking a detrimental toll on the United States’ economy, lawmakers are at odds on how to proceed.
Pelosi suggested that Trump did not follow through on his promise to provide enough testing and medical equipment for Americans, calling it “almost sinful.”
Describing Trump’s limited testing and medical supply shortage as a “complete failure,” Pelosi stressed the importance of Democratic lawmakers speaking out about the Trump administration’s actions.
“And we cannot let them lie about it,” she reportedly added.
She went on to discuss the importance of adequate testing and a system for contact tracing.
Without both components, Pelosi argues that Trump cannot promise Americans a safe reopening without the possibility of further spreading the virus.
Pelosi’s latest conference call follows multiple interviews where she has noted the same concerns, stressing the impact of equipment delays, as previously reported on IJR. According to the California lawmaker, testing serves multiple purposes.
“We have to have testing, testing, testing, that’s what we said from the start,” Pelosi previously said, continuing, “Before we can evaluate what the nature of it is in some of these other regions as well.”
As of Tuesday morning, there were over 584,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States with a death toll of more than 24,000.