Pence Grilled on Trump’s Call to ‘Liberate’ States From Coronavirus Lockdowns

Vice President Mike Pence was grilled on President Donald Trump’s call to “liberate” states from coronavirus lockdowns.

“Can you explain what the president is trying to liberate Minnesota from?” Chuck Todd asked Pence during an interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday.

“No one wants to reopen America more than President 👤Donald Trump, and I think the American people have known that,” Pence said. “We have to make sure the cure isn’t worse than the disease.”

“The truth is that there are real costs, including the health and well being of the American people, to continue to go through the shut down that we’re in today,” he added.

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Pence continued to cite the new guidelines that Trump unveiled on Thursday aimed at providing states a pathway to lifting the restrictions on public life. However, Todd noted that he did not directly answer the question, he said, “I’ve given you a lot of leeway here.”

He continued to suggest that Trump was undermining his own guidance on reopening the country, “Why is the president trying to undermine the guidance you’ve been laying out? … He laid out this guidance on Thursday and undermined in on Friday.”

“Chuck, I don’t accept your premise, and I don’t think most Americans do either,” Pence responded. “The president has made it clear he wants to reopen America. And we laid out guidelines for every state in the country to safely and responsibly reopen their economy at the time and manner of their choosing.”

On Thursday, Trump unveiled new guidelines that provide a three phase plan for states to lift restrictions if they meet certain criteria with their coronavirus cases.

However, Trump was accused of fomenting protests against the shutdowns in states on Friday after he sent out a series of tweets encouraging people to “liberate” their states, as IJR has previously reported.