Joe Biden’s campaign says he’ll take up the Trump White House’s offer to consult about how best to combat the coronavirus outbreak.
The Wednesday afternoon statement is the latest in a back-and-forth that began in the morning with a taunt of the presumptive Democratic nominee by Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president. Conway blasted Biden’s criticisms of President Trump as “petty,” including in a Tuesday night television interview. She challenged the former two-term vice president and 36-year Delaware senator to call President Trump to offer coronavirus pandemic strategies.
“Why doesn’t Vice President Biden call the White House today and offer some support?” Conway said. “I have to tell you, we’re not talking about politics here at the White House at all. We’re talking about ventilators and vaccines, not Biden and Bernie. There’s really no time for that, but it’s very disappointing when you see the criticism.”
Later on Wednesday, Biden’s deputy campaign manager told the Washington Examiner Biden would be willing to call Trump and discuss how to help contain the spread of the virus.
“Vice President Biden has been extending his advice for months, and he did so again on the air last night,” Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “As he has said repeatedly, Donald Trump is not accountable for coronavirus itself — but he is accountable for the federal government’s slow and chaotic response to this outbreak.”
Since the outbreak started and his campaign was forced off the trail, Biden has remained consistently critical of Trump, accusing his administration of slow-walking necessary steps to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
“Unfortunately, Trump spent months after the virus was discovered disregarding repeated warnings from his scientific and intelligence experts and downplaying the threats of this outbreak to the American people,” Bedingfield said.
As of Wednesday afternoon, over 4,100 Americans have died from the coronavirus, while 190,740 have tested positive. Both Trump and medical experts say they expect those numbers to rise over the coming weeks.
“This is going to be a rough two-week period,” Trump said in a briefing Tuesday. “As a nation, we’re going to have a really rough two weeks. Our strength will be tested, and our endurance will be tried.”
