White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Friday downplayed the threat of the coronavirus but acknowledged likely school closures and disruptions to public transportation in the United States as a result of the outbreak.
He also accused the press of peddling a false narrative about the administration “scrambling” to contain the virus, saying he briefed Congress with other top health officials six weeks ago. He accused the media of ignoring the coronavirus until now because publications were too preoccupied with Trump’s impeachment before that, which he called a “hoax.”
“Why didn’t you hear about it? What was going on four or five weeks ago? Impeachment. That’s all the press wanted to talk about.” Mulvaney told an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday morning in a discussion with Stephen Moore, an economic expert at the Heritage Foundation. “The press was covering their hoax of the day because they thought it would bring down the president.”
Trump has similarly accused the media of stoking panic.
Mulvaney claimed that the press is only covering the virus aggressively now because “they think this is going to be what brings down the president.”
“Is it real? It absolutely is real,” Mulvaney said. “But you saw the president the other day — the flu is real.”
“Are you going to see some schools shut down? Probably. May you see impacts on public transportation? Sure,” Mulvaney said, adding, “We know how to handle this.”
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White House chief of staff claims press covering coronavirus to take Trump down https://t.co/1WIN5nE9L1 pic.twitter.com/iHrymVaqzK
— The Hill (@thehill) February 28, 2020
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) February 29, 2020
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