House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff responded to suggestions that President Trump’s reaction to the coronavirus was delayed because of impeachment by claiming it’s an acknowledgment “the administration screwed up this response.”
“Mitch McConnell said that he believes that the impeachment trial in the Senate slowed down the federal government’s response to the pandemic,” MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell said to Schiff, a former House impeachment manager. “What’s your response to that?”
“Yeah, the president said something similar, which, you know, was an interesting acknowledgment that the administration screwed up this response,” Schiff said. “The facts are quite clear that the president’s weekslong, maybe monthslong, delay in taking this seriously has had catastrophic consequences that we’re only now beginning to see the scope of.”
Schiff went on to say that Trump was more concerned with vacations and playing golf than he was with the coronavirus.
“They should stop making excuses. The president found plenty of time even during the impeachment trial … to play golf, go on vacation at Mar-a-Lago, to do campaign rallies. He wasn’t distracted from doing the things he loves to do, but the bigger problem is after the trial was over, the president continued for weeks and weeks to say this is no problem. He’s got it under control. He’s got it contained and that this isn’t going to have a big impact on the country. Of course, he was ignoring the advice of the health experts, the epidemiologists, the CDC, his own people — and with catastrophic consequences.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi echoed a similar sentiment on MSNBC, saying, “Don’t blame impeachment on that. Just blame it on the fact that you didn’t want to face the reality.”
“They can’t handle their jobs, I guess, because what are they saying? We ignored it? It was self-evident.” @SpeakerPelosi rips @realDonaldTrump and @senatemajldr.
“Don’t blame impeachment on that. Just blame it on the fact that you didn’t want to face the reality.” pic.twitter.com/A7DcjBzyJe
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 2, 2020
“I certainly devoted a little time to thinking about it,” Trump said during a coronavirus task force press conference, before adding that he doesn’t think impeachment made him act any differently.
“But certainly, I guess, I thought of it. And I think I probably acted — I don’t think I would have done better had I not been impeached, OK? And I think that’s a great tribute to something. Maybe it’s a tribute to me. But I don’t think I would’ve acted any differently, or I don’t think I would’ve acted any faster.”
