President Donald Trump revealed what he believes hindered his administration’s ability to restock medical supplies during the first three years of his presidency.
ABC’s David Muir asked Trump what he did to restore resources to the cupboards were “bare,” referring to the national stockpile.
Trump pointed to turning points in his presidency as reasons he was occupied at the time.
“Well I’ll be honest, I have a lot of things going on. We had a lot of people that refused to allow the country to be successful,” Trump said.
He added, “They wasted a lot of time on Russia Russia Russia. That turned out to be a total hoax. Then they did Ukraine Ukraine and that was a total hoax. Then they impeached the president of the United States for absolutely no reason.”
Watch his comments below:
ABC: You're three years into your term. What did you do when you became president to restock those cupboards that you say are bare?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 5, 2020
TRUMP: "Well, I'll be honest, uh, I have a lot of things going on." pic.twitter.com/7l9v3dgrOz
Trump has appeared to blame the Obama administration in the past for issues with coronavirus testing, as IJR previously reported.
Vice President Mike Pence cited the previous administration’s rule asserting FDA jurisdiction over testing. Trump changed the rule so state and university laboratories can conduct coronavirus tests.
Former President Barack Obama recently said he believes there is no “coherent national plan” on the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump has come under harsh criticism for reportedly failing to provide adequate testing across the nation as well as medical supplies to states in need.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) both believe Trump has failed to implement a national testing plan.
According to Schumer, Trump’s “ego” has hindered his ability to provide testing across the nation, as IJR previously reported.
Pelosi called Trump “a total failure” and suggested he attempted to use other policy issues to distract from his testing plan.
Others have fired back at the federal government for not providing enough resources to combat the coronavirus outbreak, including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D).
He announced during a briefing on April 21 that New York City will create its own reserve of medical supplies.
As of Wednesday morning, there are more than 1,204,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States and over 71,000 deaths due to the virus.
