President Donald Trump on Monday pushed his view that there is enough testing for states to reopen, even as the White House is instituting increased…
President Donald Trump on Monday pushed his view that there is enough testing for states to reopen, even as the White House is instituting increased testing and considering other new precautions over fears the novel coronavirus has invaded the cramped offices of the White House West Wing.
At an afternoon news conference in the White House Rose Garden complete with a large banner saying, “America leads the world in testing,” Trump claimed all Americans returning to work can get tested daily “very soon,” although some governors disagree.
Earlier, ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and John Santucci reported a new White House policy was distributed to West Wing staff Monday afternoon directing them to wear masks at all times while working in the West Wing, according to sources familiar with the matter. The guidance comes after two White House staffers tested positive for coronavirus last week.
Additional measures were being considered this week at the White House following positive tests from one of the president’s valets and the vice president’s press secretary for coronavirus. Meanwhile, critics of the administration question when widespread testing, contact tracing and protective equipment will become available to all everyday Americans returning to work, as they become integrated at the White House.
“If we did very little testing, [America] wouldn’t have the most cases,” Trump said last Wednesday. “So, in a way, by doing all of this testing, we make ourselves look bad.”
On Capitol Hill, task force witnesses scheduled to testify before the Senate Health Committee on Tuesday regarding the opening of the economy — including Drs. Anthony Fauci, CDC Director Robert Redfield, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn and coronavirus testing coordinator Adm. Brett Giroir — will instead appear by videoconference in the historic hearing.
Fauci, Hahn and Redfield are in some form of quarantine this week following contact with at least one White House staffer who tested positive. Even the committee’s chair, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., will preside over the hearing from his home state “out of an abundance of caution,” after one of his staff members, too, tested positive for the contagious pathogen.
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Here are Monday’s most significant developments in Washington:
As the contagious coronavirus appears to have invaded the White House West Wing, ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl asked President Trump at a Rose Garden news conference when everyday Americans will be able to get tested daily as they return to work just as White House staffers now can.
“I mean, really very soon. It’s an interesting question because, normally, you would have said that you are not tested and you would have been, you know, knocking us for not getting tested. So if we get tested, it’s a problem, and if we don’t get tested, it’s a problem,” the president said.
When pressed, Trump told Karl governors are responsible for making the decisions best for their states.
“We’re leaving that up to the governors as you know, and if we see something wrong, we’ll call them out and we’ll stop it,” Trump said. “Some are being not aggressive enough in my opinion, and some are being a little bit aggressive.”
When ABC News’ Jordyn Phelps pressed the president about the “double standard” under which members of his own staff can get tested frequently when ordinary Americans cannot, Trump suggested members of the press would complain if the White House had no tests, saying, “you can’t win.”
“You know what? If we didn’t get the tests, if we did no tests in the White House, you’d be complaining, ‘Why aren’t you getting tests for the White House?’ See, we can’t win them back. Because if we didn’t get the tests, you’d be up — I understand you very well, better than you understand yourself,” he said.
“And frankly, if we didn’t get tests done, you would be up, complaining about the fact that we didn’t have the tests done,” Trump continued. “Now that we are doing so well on tests and so quick and so fast, five minutes, et cetera, and so accurate, you are complaining that we’re getting too many tests. So, you can’t win.”
When Phelps asked the president to clarify or offer figures on when exactly everyone who needs a test can get one, as the president has claimed since a visit on March 6 to the CDC, Trump said, “it’s a true statement already.”
Adm. Brett Giroir, the administration’s point person on testing, tried to clarify and qualify Trump’s claim about who could get tested.
“Everybody who needs a test can get a test,” Giroir said. “If you’re symptomatic with a respiratory illness, that’s an indication for a test and you can get a test.”
In a moment that echoed a previous controversial claim, Trump added if people want a test, they can get one.
“If people want to get tested, they get tested, but for the most part they shouldn’t want to get tested,” Trump said. “There is no reason. They feel good. They don’t have sniffles. They don’t have sore throats. They don’t have any problem.”
Meanwhile, several governors and local health officials have continued to report problems with the testing supply chain such as access to swabs and antigens.
Vice President Mike Pence, though present in Washington, was notably not in attendance at the briefing.
The president also said that while governors and the public alike have learned a lot about the virus over the last couple months, he claimed there are two sides of the argument on wearing face masks — a recommendation Trump has resisted following himself.
