President Donald Trump is not saying if he actually asked officials to slow down coronavirus testing.
On Monday, Trump was asked by Scripps’ Joe St. George if he directed officials to slow down coronavirus testing, but he did not directly answer the question.
He said, “We do more testing than any country in the world by far. Twenty-five million tests, other countries do one million. … As you do more tests, it shows more and more cases.”
He continued to suggest that if testing did slow down “we wouldn’t show nearly as many cases.”
He also noted that the coronavirus tests are finding people who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, and not just individuals who require hospitalizations.
But when pressed on whether or not he tried to slow down testing, Trump said, “If it did slow down, frankly, I think we’re way ahead of ourselves — if you want to know the truth.”
“We’ve done too good a job. Because every time we go– with 25 million tests you’re going to find more people. So then they say, ‘Oh, we have more cases in the United States.’ The reason we have more cases [is] because we do more testing than any other country by far.”
Watch the video below:
VIDEO: Just asked President Trump if he actually ordered testing to be slowed down. He said in his Saturday speech he did. He didn't answer the direct question. pic.twitter.com/aDKGu6F2Ok
— Joe St. George (@JoeStGeorge) June 22, 2020
Trump received criticism after he said during his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday that he asked officials to slow down coronavirus testing.
“When you do testing to that extent you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” he said, adding, “So I said to my people, slow the testing down, please. They test, and they test, we got tests, and people don’t know what’s going on.”
In case you missed it:
Trump: When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people. You’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people slow the testing down please. pic.twitter.com/RalPJeVH0F
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 21, 2020
After the rally, Trump administration officials claimed that the president was joking and denied that he asked to slow the testing, as IJR reported.
However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, “The President’s efforts to slow down desperately needed testing to hide the true extent of the virus mean more Americans will lose their lives.”
She added, “The American people are owed answers about why President Trump wants less testing when experts say much more is needed.”
