Tuesday on CNN, former Vice President Joe Biden, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, accused President Donald Trump of having “been very slow to act” on the coronavirus pandemic.
Anchor Brooke Baldwin said, “You said the president should stop misleading Americans. Do you believe he is doing so intentionally to paint a rosier picture?”
Biden said, “Well, you know, I’ve learned a long time ago never question a person’s motive, but you can question their judgment. And his judgment is that many things he says simply are not accurate. They’re simply not accurate. Like yesterday, he was talking to a bunch of governors on the telephone, and he said the first time he heard about the needing more tests was on that telephone call. Well, come on. I mean, I don’t know where he’s been. He’s standing on the podium every single day, speaking to all of his experts. We badly need more tests, for example. And so the things he says don’t seem to comport with what everybody else knows.”
He continued, “And I wish he’d listen more to the scientists and think less about the political consequences like asking the governors if they — the governors don’t appreciate enough what he’s doing. That the government is not a federal shipping clerk, no the government, the federal government is in charge. The president said he’s a war-time president. This is a war against this virus. He should act like a war-time president. He should have someone else in charge with him, making sure all of these things get implemented. It is not like we didn’t know this was coming.”
He added, “President Trump is not responsible for the coronavirus, but he is responsible for using all of the power at his disposal to be able to deal with this virus and changing the peak and getting down the curve, so we move in a direction instead of going up like this, we’re going down like this. And he’s been very slow to act for whatever the reason he has been very slow to act on a whole range of things. For example, he still hasn’t fully invoked the Defense Production Act. He finally did with General Motors after a roundabout. What about the masks and the gowns that the nurses and doctors need. They’re made of paper. What about the goggles they need and the face shields or the gloves they need. He can do that by the Defense Production Act right now. He could have done it yesterday, a week ago, three weeks ago, five weeks ago. They’re in short supply. Our first responders are literally risking and some losing their lives to try to help the American people.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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