White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said she was not sure the White House coronavirus task force knew President Trump was going to say Easter was his goal to restart the economy.
Trump said during a Tuesday town hall on Fox News that he hoped people could get back to work around April 12 after hunkering down to stem the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. At a briefing hours later, Trump assured the public that his administration is working on a “sophisticated plan” for how the country can start returning to normal.
In an interview on Fox & Friends Wednesday morning, co-host Brian Kilmeade asked the press secretary, “Stephanie, how real is this Easter date, and how well-informed was the rest of the task force that the president was going to say that yesterday, that his goal was to open up by Easter?”
“You know, I don’t know how well-informed they were,” Grisham answered. “I think that the president, as he has been doing, is very hopeful and wants to have a message of hope to the American people. I think he would love it if we were opened up for business yesterday, but after the 15 days when we see the data come in, we’ll see where we’re at, and I think the president will make his decision now.”
[Related: Hoping for Easter resurrection, Trump promises to ease pandemic restrictions]
She was referring to the administration’s 15-day guidance to “slow the spread” of the virus.
Trump was questioned about the feasibility of such a goal during the town hall that was moderated by Bill Hemmer and Harris Faulkner.
“I think it’s possible,” the president responded. “Why isn’t it? We’ve never closed the country before. We’ve had some pretty bad flus, and we’ve had some pretty bad viruses,” Trump said. “Now, people are going to have to practice all of the social distancing, and don’t shake hands, and wash your hands … but we have to get our country back to work. Our country wants to be back to work.”
There have been more than 52,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States, which has resulted in more than 680 deaths, according to NBC News.
