Trump is trying to falsely blame former President Obama for the fact that he did not have testing kits ready for the coronavirus outbreak.
At the White House Trump said, “The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we’re doing, and we undid that decision a few days ago so that the testing can take place at a much more accurate and rapid fashion. That was a decision we disagreed with. I don’t think we would have made it, but for some reason it was made. But we’ve undone that decision.â€
Video:
Trump on coronavirus testing: "The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we're doing & we undid that decision a few days ago so that testing can take place in a much more accurate & rapid fashion" (what's he talking about?) pic.twitter.com/Z0UBaORIwI
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 4, 2020
Trump was lying. Obama made no changes to testing.
Dan Diamond of Politico tweeted that there no regulatory changes to lab testing finalized under Obama:
As Sarah rightly corrects me, the White House has been criticizing Obama-era “regulatory jurisdiction†over lab tests that was never actually finalized. FDA issued draft guidance, not regulation. https://t.co/UwwSWWMFTc
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) March 4, 2020
The delay in testing wasn’t from an “Obama regulation,” but Trump’s CDC:
ICYMI: Health department to let hospitals develop their own coronavirus tests after CDC’s stumbles. https://t.co/oMVfqVbpRj pic.twitter.com/evbpTOCrnq
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) February 28, 2020
Trump has concocted this mythology in his own mind that Obama left the country in shambles and he has fixed everything. The truth is that Trump blames Obama for his failures.
Trump isn’t going to make the criticism of his coronavirus response go away by blaming Obama. Donald Trump is running the administration that is responsible for withholding information and misleading on the coronavirus.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
