Jason Miller, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, is defending his claims about health professionals amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos noted during Miller’s appearance on “This Week” the American Medical Association responded to Trump’s claim doctors profit off of COVID-19 deaths.
“Rather than attacking and lobbing baseless charges at physicians, our leaders should be following the science and urging adherence to the public health steps we know work towards reducing the spread of #COVID19—wash hands, #MaskUp and physical distance,” the organization said.
Rather than attacking and lobbing baseless charges at physicians, our leaders should be following the science and urging adherence to the public health steps we know work towards reducing the spread of #COVID19—wash hands, #MaskUp and physical distance. https://t.co/w2FktcLh2Q
— AMA (@AmerMedicalAssn) October 30, 2020
He asked Miller why Trump repeatedly attacks doctors and says they are inflating COVID-19 numbers.
“I don’t think he was attacking anybody at all. I think he was talking about how most Americans want to safely and securely re-open the country,” Miller said.
Stephanopoulos pushed back, “Jason, we all just saw it. He was talking about doctors inflating Covid deaths for money.”
Miller doubled down on his argument.
He told Stephanopoulos he would not “get into the billing aspects of which there have been many reports.”
Watch his comments below:
.@GStephanopoulos repeatedly presses Jason Miller on Trump’s false claims on doctors and COVID-19: Why does he "repeatedly attack doctors working on the frontlines?”
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 1, 2020
Miller: “I don’t think he was attacking anybody at all.”
G.S.: “We all just saw it.” https://t.co/PPoWucYWDV pic.twitter.com/i3VkGcrM4R
During his rally on Friday, Trump explained to supporters how he believes the mortality rate of COVID-19 is determined in the United States, as IJR previously reported.
“Our doctors get more money if somebody dies from COVID. You know that, right? I mean our doctors are very smart people,” Trump said.
He added, “With us when in doubt, choose COVID. It’s true, no, it’s true. No, they’ll say, ‘Oh, it’s terrible what he said,’ but that’s true. It’s like $2,000 more, so you get more money. This could only happen to us.”
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden told his supporters during his rally on Friday the president should stop focusing his attention on health care workers and start focusing on how to lead the nation through the pandemic, as IJR previously reported.
“Doctors and nurses go to work everyday to save lives. They do their jobs. Donald Trump should stop attacking them and do his job,” Biden said.
