President Trump reversed himself Thursday regarding his call for a slowdown in coronavirus testing.
He described his comments last Saturday at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as “sarcastic.”
At Tulsa, Trump told the crowd, “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people. You’re going to find cases. So, I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.'”
When asked on Tuesday about whether he was joking, Trump replied, “I don’t kid.”
But on Thursday, he said in an interview with Sean Hannity that “sometimes I jokingly say, or sarcastically say, if we didn’t do tests, we would look great. But you know what? It’s not the right thing to do.”
His Tuesday response contradicted his aides, who said Trump was joking. Vice President Mike Pence said the comments were made “in jest,” and trade adviser Peter Navarro described them as “tongue-in-cheek.” Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said that he knew of no order from Trump to slow down testing.
