White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro is taking aim at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for what he claims is a failure to provide adequate testing for the coronavirus.
NBC’s Chuck Todd asked Navarro if President Donald Trump has confidence in the CDC as a lead amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Navarro argued the CDC failed the United States from the beginning when it came to testing.
“I’d say two things about that. First of all, you should ask the president that question, not me,” Navarro said.
“But, early on in this crisis, the CDC, which really had the most trusted brand around the world in this space, really let the country down with the testing.”
Check out his comments below:
WATCH: @chucktodd asks WH Adviser Peter Navarro: “Does the president have confidence in the CDC?” #MTP @PeterNavarro45: “You should ask the president that question, not me. … The CDC, which really had the most trusted brand … really let the country down with the testing.” pic.twitter.com/GSE99pXJun
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 17, 2020
Navarro claimed not only did the CDC keep the testing within the “bureaucracy,” but it was also a bad test.
He pivoted to discussing the CDC guidelines for opening.
“Opening up this economy is not a question of lives versus jobs,” Navarro said.
He added, “The fact of the matter is and what President Trump realized early on is that if you lock people down, you may save lives directly from the China virus. But you indirectly, you’re going to kill a lot more people.”
Navarro went on to explain how unemployment causes more suicides, depression, and drug abuse.
According to Navarro, as hospitals are locked down for everything except for the coronavirus, women are unable to receive mammograms or cervical exams, and procedures for the heart and kidneys are not able to be conducted leading to more deaths than the coronavirus itself.
“If you contrast this complete lockdown where some of the people in the medical community want to run and hide until the virus is extinguished, that’s going to not only take a huge toll on the American economy, it’s going to kill many more people than the China virus ever would,” Navarro said.
