Ex-Pence aide: Task force knew coronavirus 'was going to be big' in late January

Source: The Hill | September 22, 2020 | Zack Budryk

Former Vice President Pence aide Olivia Troye said Tuesday that White House officials knew the coronavirus pandemic “was going to be big” as early as January.

“We certainly had a task force meeting and discussion where we had this conversation, that this was going to be big,” Troye told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “Late January we knew.”

Asked by Mitchell how she reacted to President Trump’s repeated claims that the virus would “disappear,” Troye responded “It was frightening. When you’re the president, words matter.”

Troye also told Mitchell that she had been present at a meeting in which Trump said the coronavirus pandemic was not necessarily a bad thing.

“I was sitting to the right of him. He said when you’re a politician, you have to shake a lot of hands. You have to shake a lot of hands. And these people are disgusting. It’s gross. And so maybe, Covid’s probably a good thing, right? I don’t have to shake hands. I don’t have to do that anymore,” Troye told Mitchell. “And I can’t imagine how any honestly normal human being would ever say that out loud in the middle of a pandemic.”

Troye added that she was moved to speak out because “I felt I needed to tell the truth about what was happening and what we were dealing with internally. Especially with the president who, you know, was very undermining about the work that was going on in the task force. I just felt that now it mattered more than ever.”

Pence has dismissed Troye as a “disgruntled employee,” saying last week “she made no comments like that when she was serving under our team here at the White House.”

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  • Consistent #43018

    EVERYDAY #43019

    Too bad Miss Troye didn’t step forward months ago before 200,000 people died from this virus. But I guess she had to have her personal appearance compensation in place and maybe even a book deal. These whistleblowers coming forward now are not heroes. I’d say they are just as selfish as their former boss — not wanting to do anything until and unless it benefits them.

    Consistent #43021

    Consistent #43027

    Consistent #43047

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