Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson condemned President Trump for his refusal to wear a mask while meeting with the press.
Trump visited a Ford factory in Michigan last week, and while he did wear a mask while visiting with workers, he took it off when he met with reporters because he “didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.” During a Sunday interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Johnson, who worked under President Barack Obama during his second term, criticized Trump’s sporadic mask usage.
“It’s disheartening to watch,” Johnson said. “The president, whether it’s the issue of the mask or things he says in his daily briefings, it is sending the message, explicitly or implicitly, that he doesn’t believe his scientists. He doesn’t always believe Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, and that we need to get back to business, we need to reopen our economy.”
“The president’s the most visible person in America. He sets the example. He sets the standards. And a lot of people, particularly in his base, look to him for guidance on this. And so, he has the power to influence the debate,” he added.
The White House has defended the president and vice president’s decisions not to wear a mask in some public appearances because the two are tested regularly and know that they are not asymptomatic spreaders of the coronavirus. The CDC has noted that cloth face masks cannot stop the person wearing the mask from catching the virus, but they can help to stop asymptomatic people from inadvertently spreading it.
