Donald Trump Jr. called on a Democratic representative to apologize for threatening him over a comment he made about the coronavirus.
Rep. John Garamendi, a California Democrat, said on Friday there would be “a serious altercation” if the president’s eldest son repeated his claim that Democrats secretly hope the coronavirus outbreak will do damage to President Trump’s reelection bid.
“The outrageous remarks from Congressman Garamendi were beyond the pale and should be universally condemned by Republicans and Democrats alike,” Andrew Surabian, a spokesman for Trump Jr. told the Washington Examiner on Friday when asked for a response.
“By threatening Don Jr. with physical violence on national TV, Congressman Garamendi made clear to everyone watching that he is better suited to represent antifa than the people of California’s 3rd Congressional District,” Surabian said. “He should apologize immediately.”
During a Friday morning interview on Fox & Friends, Trump Jr., who is a Trump Organization executive, claimed Democrats “seemingly hope” that coronavirus will spread in the United States and lead to the death of “millions” in order to “end Donald Trump’s streak of winning.”
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Garamendi was asked to respond to Trump Jr. during an interview with MSNBC Live with Hallie Jackson.
“He should not be near me when he says that,” the California congressman said. “There would be a serious altercation.”
“That is just totally outrageous. That is totally outrageous. I can assure you there’s not a Democrat or Republican in Congress that wants anybody to be sick,” he added, “What we are concerned about is the administration’s response to this illness. We’ve known since December that there was an epidemic in China … Don Jr. better not get any place close to me. It would not be a healthy situation.”
The congressman’s office did not respond to an earlier request for comment.
SARS-CoV-2, which is part of a family of coronaviruses that includes the 2003 SARS virus and Middle East respiratory syndrome, has killed more than 2,700 people and infected more than 80,000 globally. The virus, which causes the disease known as COVID-19, has spread outside China in the past week, with outbreaks cropping up in Italy and Iran. In the U.S., California health officials are monitoring more than 8,000 people for possible infection. There have been about 60 confirmed cases and no deaths so far in the U.S.
