Search Results for: coronavirus

10/25/2019

[Note: On Oct. 25, 2019, Joe Biden retweeted an Oct. 24, 2020 Washington Post article, “None of these 195 countries — the U.S. included — is fully prepared for a pandemic, report says,” along with his own comment as shown below. Although COVID-19 was about two months away at the time of Biden’s quote, we decided to start our coronavirus coverage with his October 25 statement about pandemic preparedness because it was the first relevant pandemic comment that we found by VP Biden or by President Trump.]

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “We are not prepared for a pandemic. Trump has rolled back progress President Obama and I made to strengthen global health security. We need leadership that builds public trust, focuses on real threats, and mobilizes the world to stop outbreaks before they reach our shores.”

-Joe Biden, Twitter.com, Oct. 25, 2019 4:32 pm

1/1/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/INTELLIGENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “By the final days of December, and no later than January 1, a warning [about coronavirus] would have appeared in the President’s Daily Brief—the classified summary of international developments distilled from all intelligence agencies and passed to the president and a handful of advisers. ‘It was in the briefings by the beginning of January,’ a person involved in preparing the president’s briefing book told me. ‘On that there is no dispute.’ This person went on: ‘But knowing it is in the briefing book is different from knowing whether the president saw it.'”

-James Fallows, “The 3 Weeks That Changed Everything,” theatlantic.com, June 29, 2020

1/22/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “We have it [coronavirus] totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

-CNBC, “CNBC Transcript: President Donald Trump Sits Down with CNBC’s Joe Kernen at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,” cnbc.com, Jan. 22, 2020

1/22/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19: [Maria Bartiromo: “What about this coronavirus?”] “Yes, we have one person right now, as you know, quarantined, and we got lucky, actually. But, we’re in great shape. We have — CDC did a fantastic job. Immediately got the person and we think we’re in good shape. And I think China’s in good shape too, by the way.”

-Donald Trump as quoted by Factbase, “Interview: Maria Bartiromo Interviews Donald Trump on Fox Business from Davos,” factba.se, Jan. 22, 2020

1/22/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19: [Maria Bartiromo: “So, do you think that people should be worried [about coronavirus] when they’re traveling in the airport?”] “No, not at all. I don’t think they should be worried. This is one person out of tens of millions of people that travel and we just announced it yesterday, and it’s all taken care of. And China’s working very hard on the problem, we spoke about it, and China’s working very hard on it.”

-Donald Trump as quoted by Factbase, “Interview: Maria Bartiromo Interviews Donald Trump on Fox Business from Davos,” factba.se, Jan. 22, 2020

1/24/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”

-Donald Trump, Twitter.com, Jan. 24, 2020 4:18 pm

1/27/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “[President Trump is] the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health challenge… The outbreak of a new coronavirus, which has already infected more than 2,700 people and killed over 80 in China, will get worse before it gets better. Cases have been confirmed in a dozen countries, with at least five in the United States. There will likely be more.” 

-Joe Biden, “Trump Is Worst Possible Leader to Deal with Coronavirus Outbreak,” usatoday.com, Jan. 27, 2020

1/27/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “We are in very close communication with China concerning the virus. Very few cases reported in USA, but strongly on watch. We have offered China and President Xi any help that is necessary. Our experts are extraordinary!”

-Donald Trump, Twitter.com, Jan. 27, 2020 9:56 am

1/29/2020

CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The lack of immune protection or an existing cure or vaccine would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil. This lack of protection elevates the risk of the coronavirus evolving into a full-blown pandemic, imperiling the lives of millions of Americans.”

-Peter Navarro, Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, as quoted by Maggie Haberman, “Trade Adviser Warned White House in January of Risks of a Pandemic,” nytimes.com, Apr. 6, 2020

[Note: Peter Navarro, Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, addressed memos of warning about the coronavirus to President Trump on January 29 and February 23, 2020. We were unable to find an official version of the documents aside from images of the memo published by Axios and reported on by the New York Times.]

1/29/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “I think our relationship [with China] has never been better. We’re very much involved with them, right now, on the virus that’s going around. We’re working very closely. I spoke to President Xi. We’re working very closely with China.”

-White House, “Remarks by President Trump at a Signing Ceremony for the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement,” whitehouse.gov, Jan. 29, 2020

1/29/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Just received a briefing on the Coronavirus in China from all of our GREAT agencies, who are also working closely with China. We will continue to monitor the ongoing developments. We have the best experts anywhere in the world, and they are on top of it 24/7!”

-Donald Trump, Twitter.com, January 29, 2020 7:06 pm

1/30/2020

CHINA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Working closely with China and others on Coronavirus outbreak. Only 5 people in U.S., all in good recovery.”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, January 30, 2020 5:04 pm

1/30/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Now we’re working very strongly with China on the coronavirus — that’s a new thing that a lot of people are talking about. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as some people think it could be. But we’re working very closely with them and with a lot of other people and a lot of other countries. And we think we have it very well under control.

We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. And those people are all recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for it. So that I can assure you.”

-White House, “Remarks by President Trump at a USMCA Celebration with American Workers | Warren, MI,” whitehouse.gov, Jan. 30, 2020

1/31/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “We have, right now, a crisis with the coronavirus. This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia – hysterical xenophobia – and fearmongering to lead the way instead of science.”

-Joe Biden as quoted by Trevor Hunnicutt, “Biden Slams Trump for Cutting Health Programs before Coronavirus Outbreak,” reuters.com, Jan. 31, 2020

1/31/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of all aliens who were physically present within the People’s Republic of China, excluding the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States is hereby suspended.”

-Donald Trump, “Proclamation on Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Persons who Pose a Risk of Transmitting 2019 Novel Coronavirus,” whitehouse.gov, Jan. 31, 2020

2/1/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency.”

-Joe Biden, Twitter.com, Feb. 1, 2020 5:01 pm

2/2/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Well, we pretty much shut it [coronavirus] down coming in from China. We have a tremendous relationship with China, which is a very positive thing. Getting along with China, getting along with Russia getting along with these countries.”

-Donald Trump, “President Trump sits down with Sean Hannity for Super Bowl interview,” foxnews.com, Feb. 2, 2020

2/4/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/STATE OF THE UNION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Protecting Americans’ health also means fighting infectious diseases. We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.”

-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump in State of the Union Address,” whitehouse.gov, Feb. 4, 2020

2/5/2020

CORONAVIRUS/LEGISLATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Republican and Democratic U.S. senators will introduce legislation on Friday [2-7-20] seeking to reaffirm the country’s commitment to global health amid the coronavirus crisis, including reestablishing a panel – similar to one disbanded by President Donald Trump – charged with preparing for pandemics. Republican Senator Mitt Romney and Democrat Chris Murphy will introduce a bill, seen by Reuters, that would establish a Global Health Security Interagency Review Council, and a U.S. Coordinator for Global Health Security – to be appointed by Trump – from the National Security Council. As Trump’s administration worked to downsize the NSC, which advises the president on security issues, it disbanded the council’s pandemic directorate in 2018. Some critics have said the absence of such a directorate contributed to the sluggish U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak.”

–Patricia Zengerle, “Lawmakers look to reaffirm U.S. commitment to global health, amid coronavirus,” Reuters, February 5, 2020 8:29 pm

2/7/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy, but…

….he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 7, 2020 5:31 am

2/7/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: “[Question from reporter: Are you concerned that China is covering up the full extent of coronavirus?] No. China is working very hard. Late last night, I had a very good talk with President Xi, and we talked about — mostly about the coronavirus. They’re working really hard, and I think they are doing a very professional job.

They’re in touch with World — the World — World Organization. CDC also. We’re working together. But World Health is working with them. CDC is working with them. I had a great conversation last night with President Xi. It’s a tough situation. I think they’re doing a very good job.”

–White House, “Remarks by President Trump Before Marine One Departure,” whitehouse.gov, Feb. 7, 2020

2/7/2020

CORONAVIRUS: [Bob Woodward: “What was President Xi saying yesterday?”]

“Well, we were talking mostly about the virus, and I think he’s going to have it in good shape, but you know it’s a very tricky situation. It [coronavirus] goes through air, Bob, that’s always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch, you don’t have to touch things, but the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus… This is more deadly, this is 5% versus 1% and less than 1%, so this is deadly stuff.”

-Donald Trump in a Feb. 7, 2020 call with Bob Woodward, as quoted with audio recording in Robert Costa and Philip Rucker, “Woodward book: Trump says he knew coronavirus was ‘deadly’ and worse than the flu while intentionally misleading Americans,” washingtonpost.com, Sep. 9, 2020

2/10/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Now, the virus that we’re talking about having to do — you know, a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat — as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April. We’re in great shape though. We have 12 cases — 11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now.”

-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump at the White House Business Session with Our Nation’s Governors,” whitehouse.gov, Feb. 10, 2020

2/10/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “I think China is very, you know, professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control. I really believe they are going to have it under control fairly soon. You know in April, supposedly, it dies with the hotter weather. And that’s a beautiful date to look forward to. But China I can tell you is working very hard. We’re working with them. You know, we just sent some of our best people over there, World Health Organization and a lot of them are composed of our people. They’re fantastic. And they’re now in China, and we’re helping them out. We’re in very good shape. We have 11 cases and most of them are getting better very rapidly. I think they’ll all be better.”

-Factbase, “Interview: Trish Regan of Fox Business Interviews Donald Trump in Manchester, NH – February 10, 2020,” factba.se, Feb. 10, 2020

2/13/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “[W]e’re working on it very closely. I spoke to President Xi two days ago. They’re working on it very professionally. It’s a problem, we think and we hope, based on all signs that the problem goes away in April because — which is not too far down the road, because heat kills this virus…

We’re sending a lot of people and CDC has been great but it is — it’s a problem in China. Has not been spreading very much. In our country, we only have, basically, 12 cases and most of those people are recovering and some cases fully recovered. So it’s actually less.”

[Geraldo Rivera: “Did the Chinese tell the truth about this?”]

“Well, you never know. I think they want to put the best face on it. So you know, I mean, if somebody — if you were running it, you’d probably — you wouldn’t want to run out to the world and go crazy and start saying whatever it is because you don’t want to create a panic. But, no, I think they’ve handled it professionally and I think they’re extremely capable.”

-Donald Trump as quoted by Factbase, “Interview: Geraldo Rivera Interviews Donald Trump on Geraldo in Cleveland – February 13, 2020,” factba.se, Feb. 13, 2020

2/18/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: [Reporter: Some people don’t seem to trust the data coming out of China. Are you worried about that?]

“Look, I know this: President Xi loves the people of China, he loves his country, and he’s doing a very good job with a very, very tough situation.”

-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump Before Air Force One Departure | Joint Base Andrews, MD,” whitehouse.gov, Feb. 18, 2020

2/23/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP PEOPLE: “There is an increasing probability of a full-blown COVID-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans, with a loss of life of as many as 1-2 million souls.”

-Peter Navarro, Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, as quoted by Jonathan Swan and Margaret Talev, “Navarro Memos Warning of Mass Coronavirus Death Circulated in January,” axios.com, Apr. 7, 2020

[Note: Peter Navarro, Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, addressed memos of warning about the coronavirus to President Trump on January 29 and February 23, 2020. We were unable to find an official version of the documents aside from images of the memo published by Axios and reported on by the New York Times.]

2/24/2020

CORONAVIRUS/DEMS/HHS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House on Monday [2-24-20] sent lawmakers an urgent $2.5 billion plan to address the deadly coronavirus outbreak, whose rapid spread and threat to the global economy rocked financial markets. The White House budget office said the funds are for vaccines, treatment and protective equipment. The request was immediately slammed by Democrats as insufficient and came as coronavirus fears were credited with Monday’s 1,000-plus point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and are increasingly seen as a potential political threat to President Donald Trump. The request was released Monday evening and came as key government accounts were running low. The Department of Health and Human Services had already tapped into an emergency infectious disease rapid response fund and was seeking to transfer more than $130 million from other HHS accounts to combat the virus but is pressing for more.”

–Andrew Taylor, “White House unveils $2.5B emergency coronavirus plan,” Associated Press, February 24, 2020

2/24/2020

CORONAVIRUS/ECONOMY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 24, 2020 4:42 pm

2/25/2020

CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Tuesday [2-25-20] predicted the coronavirus is ‘going to go away’ despite warnings from Democrats that his White House is asleep amid cresting fears in Washington that the outbreak could spark a pandemic. The President maintained his sunny optimism about the virus that is showing signs of spreading around the world from its Chinese epicenter and is already having a huge impact on global commerce. ‘I think that’s a problem that’s going to go away,’ Trump said during a trip to India, expressing confidence that the epidemic will not seriously harm the global economy. But behind the scenes the President is less calm, and he is expressing frustration at some of the ways his administration is responding to the outbreak, sources familiar with the conversations told CNN. His mood reflects a growing realization among Trump’s staff that the coronavirus is going to pose a greater challenge than previously understood.”

–Stephen Collinson, “Trump claims coronavirus is ‘going to go away’ despite mounting concerns,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, February 25, 2020 3:04 pm

2/25/2020

CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump has privately expressed frustration in recent days about some of the ways his administration is confronting a spreading coronavirus outbreak, according to people familiar with the conversations. Publicly, he has expressed optimism that the virus is ‘going to go away.’ Trump was initially upset that some Americans who tested positive for coronavirus were allowed back into the United States for quarantine instead of remaining in Asia, though on Tuesday [2-25-20] he acknowledged it was ultimately the right thing to allow them back into the country. And he’s sided with officials in Alabama who have protested a federal government plan to quarantine some patients in the state, despite federal officials insisting it wouldn’t pose a threat to residents. After both incidents, Trump told people around him he wants to fire those responsible for the decisions, though it doesn’t appear anyone has been terminated.”

–Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins, “Trump privately vents over coronavirus even as he publicly insists everything is fine,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, February 25, 2020 9:32 am

2/25/2020

BUSINESS/ECONOMY/ELECTION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday [2-25-20] the U.S. stock market will crash if he loses the election this year. During a trip to India, Trump told business leaders stocks will jump higher if he is re-elected, but ‘if I don’t win you’re going to see a crash like you’ve never seen before.’ He said his administration planned to announce tax cuts for the middle class in the not too distant future. Trump also said that Monday’s steep fall in share prices was bad because of fears of the coronavirus, but the United States was in good shape in terms of tackling the problem. He said Chinese President Xi Jinping was working hard on the issue. ‘And I think it is going to be under control … I think it is going to work out fine. We hope so,’ trump said.”

–Reuters Staff, “Trump says stock markets will crash if he loses election,” Reuters, February 25, 2020 3:03 am

2/25/2020

CHUCK SCHUMER/CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer is complaining, for publicity purposes only, that I should be asking for more money than $2.5 Billion to prepare for Coronavirus. If I asked for more he would say it is too much. He didn’t like my early travel closings. I was right. He is incompetent!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 25, 2020 9:02 am

2/25/2020

CORONAVIRUS/DEMS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “….Democrats talking point is that we are doing badly. If the virus disappeared tomorrow, they would say we did a really poor, and even incompetent, job. Not fair, but it is what it is. So far, by the way, we have not had one death. Let’s keep it that way!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 25, 2020 9:29 pm

2/25/2020

CDC/CORONAVIRUS/DEMS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus, including the very early closing of our borders to certain areas of the world. It was opposed by the Dems, ‘too soon’, but turned out to be the correct decision. No matter how well we do, however, the…..”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 25, 2020 9:29 pm

2/26/2020

CDC/CORONAVIRUS/MIKE PENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump named Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday [2-26-20] to coordinate the government’s response to the coronavirus, even as he repeatedly played down the danger to the United States of a widespread domestic outbreak. The president’s announcement, at a White House news conference, followed mounting bipartisan criticism that the administration’s response had been sluggish and came after two days of contradictory messages about the virus, which has infected more than 81,000 people globally, killing nearly 3,000. The announcement also came on a day when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a person with no known risk factors had been infected in Northern California.”

–Michael D. Shear, Noah Weiland and Katie Rogers, “Trump Names Mike Pence to Lead Coronavirus Response,” The New York Times online, February 26, 2020

2/26/2020

CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “’U.S. acted on the Coronavirus very, very quickly.’ Gordon Chang @IngrahamAngle”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 26, 2020 2:19 am

2/26/2020

CDC/CORONAVIRUS/INDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Just landed. India was great, trip very successful. Heading to the White House. Meetings and calls scheduled today. @CDCgov, @SecAzar and all doing a great job with respect to Coronavirus! Briefing this afternoon.”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 26, 2020 6:39 am

2/26/2020

CDC/CORONAVIRUS/DEMS/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape! @CDCgov…..”

-Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 26, 2020 8:03 am

2/26/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “[W]hen you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done… It’s a little like the regular flu that we have flu shots for. And we’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner… This is a flu. This is like a flu… [W]e’re testing everybody that we need to test. And we’re finding very little problem.”

-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Conference” whitehouse.gov, Feb. 27, 2020

2/27/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/DEMS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “We have a situation with the virus. We’ve done a great job. The press won’t give us credit for it…

And actually, the Democrats said I was a racist. Not from black-people standpoint, but from Asian-people standpoint, from Chinese-people standpoint. They said I was a racist because I closed our country to people coming in from certain areas. They called me a racist…

If we were doing a bad job, we should also be criticized. But we have done an incredible job. We’re going to continue. It’s [coronavirus] going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear. And from our shores, we — you know, it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens. Nobody really knows.”

-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump in Meeting with African American Leaders,” whitehouse.gov, Feb. 28, 2020

2/27/2020

CORONAVIRUS/HHS/MIKE PENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House announced Thursday [2-27-20] that they had named a coronavirus ‘coordinator’ to lead response to the health crisis. Ambassador Debbie Birx, who serves as the U.S. government’s leader for combatting HIV/AIDS globally, will report to Vice President Mike Pence, the administration’s point person for the response. She will also join the White House’s coronavirus task force led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday defended his actions as governor of Indiana during an HIV outbreak, having faced scrutiny for his handling of epidemics after being named President Donald Trump’s coronavirus chief.”

-Politico Staff, “U.S. stocks plummet and health experts warn against Trump’s claims: The latest on coronavirus,” Politico, February 27, 2020 6:53 pm

2/27/2020

CORONAVIRUS/MIKE PENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In the end, President Donald Trump got a coronavirus czar — without having to call it a czar. Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump appointed Wednesday to lead his coronavirus response, announced a global health official as the ‘White House coronavirus response coordinator’ — installing a czar-like figure under him to guide the administration’s response to the outbreak after a protracted public dance around how to display the power of the federal bureaucracy to the American people. The move marked the administration’s latest attempt to show it’s in control of the spreading global threat after weeks of fumbled messaging, rising market jitters and mounting backlash from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.”

–Adam Cancryn, Quint Forgey and Dan Diamond, “After fumbled messaging, Trump gets a coronavirus czar by another name,” Politico, February 27, 2020 3:28 pm

2/27/2020

CORONAVIRUS/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “‘Anti-Trump Network @CNN doing whatever it can to stoke a national Coronavirus panic. The far left Network pretty much ignoring anyone who they interview who doesn’t blame President Trump.’ @trish_regan @FoxNews Media refuses to discuss the great job our professionals are doing!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 27, 2020 8:53 pm

2/27/2020

CORONAVIRUS/DEMS/IMPEACHMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Do Nothing Democrats were busy wasting their time on the Impeachment Hoax, & anything they could do to make the Republican Party look bad, while I was busy calling early boarder & flight closings, putting us way ahead in our battle with the Coronavirus. Dems called it very wrong!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 27, 2020 9:32 pm

2/27/2020

CDC/CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/MIKE PENCE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Congratulations and thank you to our great Vice President & all of the many professionals doing such a fine job at CDC & all other agencies on the Coronavirus situation. Only a very small number in U.S., & China numbers look to be going down. All countries working well together!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 27, 2020 9:39 pm

2/27/2020

CORONAVIRUS/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “’Diagnosis positive: @CNN is infected with Trump Derangement Syndrome. I’m calling out CNN for irresponsibly politicizing what should be a unifying battle against a virus that doesn’t choose sides.’ @trish_regan @FoxNews Like I say, they are Fake News!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 27, 2020 10:41 pm

2/28/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/DEMS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “So, the Coronavirus, which started in China and spread to various countries throughout the world, but very slowly in the U.S. because President Trump closed our border, and ended flights, VERY EARLY, is now being blamed, by the Do Nothing Democrats, to be the fault of ‘Trump’.”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 28, 2020 12:05 am

2/28/2020

CORONAVIRUS/DEMS/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Do Nothing Democrats were busy wasting time on the Immigration Hoax, & anything else they could do to make the Republican Party look bad, while I was busy calling early BORDER & FLIGHT closings, putting us way ahead in our battle with Coronavirus. Dems called it VERY wrong!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, February 28, 2020 12:43 am

2/28/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “No one takes the president’s word for these things. He at a minimum exaggerates everything, and the idea that he’s going to stand there and say ‘everything’s fine, don’t worry?’ Who’s going to believe that? Let the experts speak like we did in our administration. Let the experts take this [coronavirus response] over. Everyone will have more confidence. I think one of the reasons it’s falling is not just because of the pandemic concern but the way in which the president’s handling this.”

-Joe Biden as quoted by Marina Pitofsky, “Biden Says ‘No One’ Takes Trump’s Word on Coronavirus,” thehill.com, Feb. 28, 2020

2/28/20

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/DEMS/IMPEACHMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that, right?…

One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.’ That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation… And this is their new hoax.”

-Donald Trump as quoted by The New York Times, “Trump in South Carolina: Excerpts,” nytimes.com, Feb. 29, 2020

2/28/2020

CORONAVIRUS/DEMS/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump complained on Friday [2-28-20] that Democrats and the news media were trying to scare Americans about the coronavirus to score political points against him but asserted that the outbreak had been relatively limited because of his action to stem infections…Speaking on the White House lawn before heading to South Carolina for a campaign rally, the president said the spread of the virus had been limited in the United States because of his order limiting travel from China…Addressing the tumbling stock markets barely a half-hour after they finished their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis, the president attributed investor unease to uncertainty about the virus but also fear of Democratic presidential candidates.” 

–Annie Karni, “Trump Criticizes Media for Coverage of Coronavirus,” The New York Times online, February 28, 2020

2/28/2020

CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The stock market is swooning. Consumers are stockpiling masks and antibacterial gels. President Trump’s response to a global epidemic has done little to quell fears. In the right-wing media universe, however, the commotion over the coronavirus is hardly a crisis for the White House. Instead, it’s just another biased attack on a president from the usual haters…As public health experts warn that the spread of the coronavirus is inevitable and urge Americans to take precautions, the pro-Trump media world has presented the subject as more fodder for partisan debate. The losses in the stock market — one of the president’s self-appointed barometers of the nation’s success — are described as a consequence of fears deliberately spread by liberals and biased journalists, rather than a reaction by investors concerned about how the virus has affected economies around the world.”

–Michael M. Grynbaum and Rachel Abrams, “Right-Wing Media Says Virus Fears Were Whipped Up to Hurt Trump, “ The New York Times online, February 28, 2020

2/29/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “[O]ur relationship with China is very good. Maybe it’s closer because of what’s happened here, because it was — you know, in a certain way, this can bring the world closer, if you want to know. It can really do that.”

-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Conference,” whitehouse.gov, Feb. 29, 2020

2/29/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Hours after officials confirmed the first death in the country from the coronavirus, President Trump moved on Saturday to calm public fears and demonstrate aggressive action against the illness, including by issuing new restrictions on foreign travel.

Presiding over an abruptly announced news conference in the White House briefing room and flanked by top public health officials, Mr. Trump, who has drawn criticism for his response to the virus, warned that additional coronavirus cases in the United States are ‘likely,’ but added that “healthy individuals should be able to fully recover.'”

-Michael Crowley, Mike Baker and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, “Trump Moves to Calm Fears as First U.S. Death From Coronavirus Is Reported,” npr.org, Feb. 29, 2020

3/1/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “We knew that this [coronavirus] was coming. Back as far as January. They didn’t even begin to prepare the testing kits… Donald Trump said just several days ago this was a Democratic hoax. What in God’s name is he talking about? Has he no shame?”

-Joe Biden as quoted by Devan Cole, “Biden Slams Trump Administration’s Response to Coronavirus Outbreak,” cnn.com, Mar. 1, 2020

3/1/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN: [Jake Tapper: “What, if anything, do you think you would be doing differently if you were president right now? “]

“I know what I would have done differently, what we did in the Ebola crisis.

They used — I heard the vice president say they set up an office in the White House. We had an office in the White House… [D]ealing with a pandemic that could have been incredibly dangerous and affected the world, Ebola, we set up an entire mechanism as to how to deal with future outbreaks of pandemic diseases.

They eliminated that office when they came in play. They cut the funding for CDC.”

-Joe Biden, “State of the Union: First American Killed By Coronavirus; Interview With Vice President Mike Pence; Interview With Former Vice President Joe Biden.,” cnn.com, Mar. 1, 2020

3/1/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “And so, what, look, here, we knew this was coming. We knew that this was coming. Back as far as January. They didn’t even begin to prepare the testing kits. I mean, this is something that is kind of elementary.

We talked about the testing kits. We’re now going to get them. Look, I don’t want to — I don’t want to talk down the possibility of us being able to do this well, but, you know, the idea that Donald Trump said just several days ago that this is a Democratic hoax. What in God’s name is he talking about? What in God’s name is he talking about? Has he no shame?”

-Joe Biden, “State of the Union: First American Killed By Coronavirus; Interview With Vice President Mike Pence; Interview With Former Vice President Joe Biden.,” cnn.com, Mar. 1, 2020

3/1/2020

AFGHANISTAN/FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN/TALIBAN: “I was against surging troops to Afghanistan in the first place. We’re not nation builders. We can’t build that nation. We should not be in the business of that. But we should have a small footprint to be able to determine whether or not there are terrorist organizations operating in the region that are planning attacks against the United States. And we should have cooperation from the Afghan government on that and a commitment from the Taliban that they will not in any way support that effort.”

-Joe Biden, “State of the Union: First American Killed By Coronavirus; Interview With Vice President Mike Pence; Interview With Former Vice President Joe Biden.,” cnn.com, Mar. 1, 2020

3/2/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/RALLY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “We had a great meeting today with a lot of the great [pharmaceutical] companies and they’re going to have vaccines. I think relatively soon and they’re going to have something that makes you better and that’s going to actually take place, we think, even sooner.”

-Donald Trump as quoted by Factbase, “Speech: Donald Trump Holds a Political Rally in Charlotte, North Carolina – March 2, 2020,” factba.se, Mar. 2, 2020

3/2/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “[W]e’re working very hard to expedite the longer process of developing a vaccine. We’re also moving with maximum speed to develop therapies so that we can help people recover as quickly as possible. We have a lot of recovery going on. We want to see if we can advance that. It’s likely that therapies will be available before a vaccine is actually ready, and we’ll seek to bring all effective treatments to market as soon as possible.”

-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Meeting with Pharmaceutical Companies,” whitehouse.gov, Mar. 2, 2020

3/3/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “We made an early decision based on a little bit of luck, I suspect, but that was the original decision on China itself. And China, in all fairness to them, they never blamed us. It was, you know, a tough decision for them, but they fully understood. They were very reasonable about it. But that was a hard decision to make. But I guess we would have had a lot more people with difficulty if we didn’t make that decision very early on.”

-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump in a Roundtable Briefing on Coronavirus | Bethesda, MD,” whitehouse.gov, Mar. 3, 2020

3/4/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “I think the 3.4 percent [global death rate] is really a false number… So, if we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better…But again, they don’t know about the easy cases, because the easy cases don’t go to the hospital… It’s not that severe.”

-Donald Trump as quoted by Factbase, “Interview: Sean Hannity Interviews Donald Trump Via Telephone – March 4, 2020,” factba.se, Mar. 4, 2020

3/4/2020

CONGRESS/CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Congress has agreed to provide $8 Billion to fight Coronavirus! This means @CDCgov, @HHSGov, and @DHSgov will have the resources they need to Keep America Safe and keep the risk to workers and families very low. This is great news for our Health, our Economy, and our Nation!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 4, 2020 6:46 pm

3/5/2020

CORONAVIRUS/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work. This is just more Fake News and disinformation put out by the Democrats, in particular MSDNC. Comcast covers the CoronaVirus situation horribly, only looking to do harm to the incredible & successful effort being made!”

-Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 5, 2020 9:30 am

3/5/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “’I want to commend the President for how he has handled the CoronaVirus situation, especially his early decision to shut down access into our Country from China, despite strong opposition to that decision.’ @SenTomCotton Thank you Tom!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 5, 2020 10:53 am

3/5/2020

CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “With approximately 100,000 CoronaVirus cases worldwide, and 3,280 deaths, the United States, because of quick action on closing our borders, has, as of now, only 129 cases (40 Americans brought in) and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 5, 2020 11:34 am

3/5/2020

CORONAVIRUS/POLLS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Gallup just gave us the highest rating ever for the way we are handling the CoronaVirus situation. The April 2009-10 Swine Flu, where nearly 13,000 people died in the U.S., was poorly handled. Ask MSDNC & lightweight Washington failure @RonaldKlain, who the President was then?”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 5, 2020 3:34 pm

3/6/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “What a problem. Came out of nowhere, but we’re taking care of it…

And in terms of deaths, I don’t know what the count is today. Is it 11? Eleven people? And in terms of cases, it’s very, very few. When you look at other countries, it’s a very tiny fraction because we’ve been very strong at the borders.”

-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump at Signing of the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020,” whitehouse.com, Mar. 6, 2020

3/6/2020

CORONAVIRUS/HHS/MIKE PENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “It is FAKE NEWS that @HHSGov @SecAzar is ‘sidelined’ from the great job he is doing on the CoronaVirus Task Force. He has the total confidence of the @VP and myself, and is doing a fantastic job, as the numbers would indicate!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 6, 2020 10:38 am

3/6/2020

CALIFORNIA/CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Spoke to Governor @GavinNewsom early this morning about the cruise ship quarantined off the California Coast. CoronaVirus test kits have been delivered, testing is taking place now. https://t.co/Pqda00HVCC“

-Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 6, 2020 10:47 am

3/6/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID/FEDERAL FUNDING/LEGISLATION: “Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 [H.R. 6074]

Became law March 6, 2020 [signed into law by Donald Trump]

Provided $8.3 billion to fight the spread of COVID-19 in the United States by funding vaccine and testing development.”

-Nicholas Wu and Javier Zarracina, “All of the COVID-19 stimulus bills, visualized,” usatoday.com, Mar. 11, 2021

3/8/2020

ANTHONY FAUCI/CORONAVIRUS: [Dr. Jon LaPook, chief medical correspondent for CBS News: “There’s a lot of confusion among people, and misinformation, surrounding face masks. Can you discuss that?”]

Anthony Fauci: “The masks are important for someone who’s infected to prevent them from infecting someone else [with coronavirus]… Right now in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks.”

[LaPook: “You’re sure of it? Because people are listening really closely to this.”

Fauci: “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face…

But, when you think masks, you should think of health care providers needing them and people who are ill. The people who, when you look at the films of foreign countries and you see 85% of the people wearing masks, that’s fine, that’s fine. I’m not against it. If you want to do it, that’s fine.”

[LaPook: “But it can lead to a shortage of masks?”]

Fauci: “Exactly, that’s the point. It could lead to a shortage of masks for the people who really need it.”

-Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, via 60 Minutes, “March 2020: Dr. Anthony Fauci talks with Dr Jon LaPook about Covid-19,” YouTube.com, Mar. 8, 2020

3/8/2020

CORONAVIRUS/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus. We moved VERY early to close borders to certain areas, which was a Godsend. V.P. is doing a great job. The Fake News Media is doing everything possible to make us look bad. Sad!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 8, 2020 7:45 pm

3/9/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”

-Donald Trump, Twitter.com, Mar. 9, 2020 10:47 am

3/9/2020

CORONAVIRUS/DEMS/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General, ‘The risk is low to the average American.’”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 9, 2020 6:20 am

3/9/2020

CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The BEST decision made was the toughest of them all – which saved many lives. Our VERY early decision to stop travel to and from certain parts of the world!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 9, 2020 8:16 am

3/9/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “I mean, there’s no sense of urgency. The American people, I think, want to know that their president is on top of this, understands it and that he’s being guided by science… And the American people are just saying wait a minute, what’s going on here? What’s happening?…

And the other thing is, there seems to be little coordination with the rest of the world and how we’re dealing with this. This is a worldwide pandemic. This is just not the United States of America.”

-Joe Biden, “Joe Biden TRANSCRIPT: 3/9/20, The Last Word w/ Lawrence O’Donnell,” MSNBC.com, Mar. 9, 2020

3/10/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “This was something that came out of China, and it hit us and many other countries. You look at the numbers; I see the numbers with just by watching you folks. I see it — it’s over 100 different countries. And it hit the world.

And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.

We want to protect our shipping industry, our cruise industry, cruise ships. We want to protect our airline industry — very important. But everybody has to be vigilant and has to be careful.

But be calm. It’s really working out.”

-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump after Meeting with Republican Senators,” whitehouse.gov, Mar. 10, 2020

3/10/2020

CORONAVIRUS/DEMS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Our CoronaVirus Team has been doing a great job. Even Democrat governors have been VERY complimentary!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 10, 2020 9:44 am

3/11/2020

CORONAVIRUS/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Vanity Fair Magazine, which will soon be out of business, and their third rate Fake reporters, who make up sources which don’t exist, wrote yet another phony & boring hit piece. The facts are just the opposite. Our team is doing a great job with CoronaVirus!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 11, 2020 9:22 am

3/11/2020

CORONAVIRUS/DEMS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Someone needs to tell the Democrats in Congress that CoronaVirus doesn’t care what party you are in. We need to protect ALL Americans!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 11, 2020 1:50 pm

3/11/2020

CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “….Together we are putting into policy a plan to prevent, detect, treat and create a vaccine against CoronaVirus to save lives in America and the world. America will get it done!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 11, 2020 1:52 pm

3/11/2020

CORONAVIRUS/HEALTHCARE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “….We have the greatest healthcare system, experts, scientists and doctors anywhere in the world. Together, we will PREVAIL!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 11, 2020 2:17 pm

3/11/2020

CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “I want to thank all of our Great Government officials on the CoronaVirus Task Force who are working around the clock, in response to the CoronaVirus. Continue to check https://t.co/boZM2NePJW for updates, and follow all recommendations that are available….”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 11, 2020 2:17 pm

3/11/2020

CORONAVIRUS/GOVERNMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “I am fully prepared to use the full power of the Federal Government to deal with our current challenge of the CoronaVirus!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 11, 2020 2:18 pm

3/11/2020

CHINA/CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “My fellow Americans: Tonight, I want to speak with you about our nation’s unprecedented response to the coronavirus outbreak that started in China and is now spreading throughout the world.

Today, the World Health Organization officially announced that this is a global pandemic…

To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days… These restrictions will also not apply to the United Kingdom…

Additionally, last week, I signed into law an $8.3 billion funding bill to help CDC and other government agencies fight the virus and support vaccines, treatments, and distribution of medical supplies.”

-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump in Address to the Nation,” whitehouse.gov, Mar. 11, 2020

3/11/2020

CORONAVIRUS/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Media should view this as a time of unity and strength. We have a common enemy, actually, an enemy of the World, the CoronaVirus. We must beat it as quickly and safely as possible. There is nothing more important to me than the life & safety of the United States!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 11, 2020 5:04 pm

3/12/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “I’d like to thank those who are already making sacrifices to protect us, whether that’s self quarantine, self quarantining themselves or canceling events and closing campuses. Because whether or not you’re infected or know someone who is infected or have been in contact with an infected person, this is going to require a national response… Let me be crystal clear. The coronavirus does not have a political affiliation. It will infect Republicans, independents and Democrats alike and will not discriminate based on national origin, race, gender or zip code… Public fears are being compounded by pervasive lack of trust in this president, fueled by adversarial relationships with the truth that he continues to have.”

-Joe Biden as quoted by Rev, “Joe Biden Speech Transcript on Coronavirus: March 12, 2020,” rev.com, Mar. 12, 2020

3/12/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Anyone, anyone who needs to be tested based on medical guidance should be tested at no charge, at no charge. The administration’s failure on testing is colossal and it’s a failure of planning, leadership, and execution. The White House should measure and report each day, each and every day, how many tests have been ordered, how many tests have been completed, and how many have tested positive. By next week, the number of tests should be in the millions, not the thousands.”

-Joe Biden as quoted by Rev, “Joe Biden Speech Transcript on Coronavirus: March 12, 2020,” rev.com, Mar. 12, 2020

3/12/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Our [Obama] administration, our last administration, we created that office to better respond to future global threats after the Ebola crisis of 2014. It was designed for exactly this scenario, but for some reason I still don’t understand President Trump eliminated that office two years ago. Look, here’s the bottom line. We have to do what’s necessary to beat the challenge, beat this challenge sooner rather than later. We will beat it. I assure you, if we wait for it to worsen, then scramble to catch up, the human and economic toll will grow faster, larger and more dangerous.”

-Joe Biden as quoted by Rev, “Joe Biden Speech Transcript on Coronavirus: March 12, 2020,” rev.com, Mar. 12, 2020

3/12/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Look, it can be hard to see the concrete value of this work when everything seems to be going well in the world. But by cutting our investment in global health, this administration has left us woefully unprepared for the exact crisis we now face.”

-Joe Biden as quoted by Rev, “Joe Biden Speech Transcript on Coronavirus: March 12, 2020,” rev.com, Mar. 12, 2020

3/12/2020

CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “108 countries are dealing with the CoronaVirus problem, some of which we are helping!”

–Donald Trump, Twitter.com, March 12, 2020 3:02 pm

3/13/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America… do hereby find and proclaim that the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States constitutes a national emergency, beginning March 1, 2020.”

-Donald Trump, “Proclamation on Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak,” whitehouse.gov, Mar. 13, 2020

3/13/2020

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19/FAUCI/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: [Q: Dr. Fauci said earlier this week that the lag in testing was, in fact, ‘a failing.’ Do you take responsibility for that?]

“Yeah, no, I don’t take responsibility at all, because we were given a — a set of circumstances and we were given rules, regulations, and specifications from a different time. It wasn’t meant for this kind of an event with the kind of numbers that we’re talking about. And what we’ve done is redesigned it very quickly with the help of the people behind me. And we’re now in very, very strong shape.”

-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing,” whitehouse.gov, Mar. 13, 2020