Kris Kobach has claimed Coronavirus numbers are being falsified in order to harm Donald Trump’s reelection chances. His comments come as the President shared false information about the disease.
Kobach is a former Kansas secretary of state and he’s running for the Senate seat there in November. He spoke to the YouTube program National File about the ongoing pandemic.
“There are so many things that are happening that indicate that they are overstating the positive numbers,” Kobach said.
“Of course, we’ve all heard about hospitals, they will test someone who comes in for a liver problem, or for an auto accident, and they test positive and they are — or people who die of something else, but they’re also COVID-positive, they’ll be treated as a COVID death.”
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He repeated the President’s claim that more testing leads to more positive diagnoses, without explaining that the rate has also increased.
“So, I believe that the numbers are being cooked. The books are being cooked, and the purpose, at least on the political left, is to use those numbers to scare the public and to scare the political leadership into shutting down,” he said.
“Now, they want to continue the government shutdown for — the business shutdown — with government pressure, for as long as they can.”
“If they can slow it down by using masks as a signal that things are not back to normal and therefore you should not go out, you should not buy, you shouldn’t open up your business yet — whatever, but the reason is obvious.”
“We know the political history of this country and that is, regardless of whether it’s a Democrat or Republican president, if that president is seeking a second term in office and the economy is strong, he will win.”
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Darragh Roche is a journalist covering U.S. politics and media
