Joe Biden asserted that he is not criticizing President Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“If you notice on what I’ve been doing, I’ve not been criticizing the president, but I’ve been pointing out where there’s disagreement as to how to proceed,” the former vice president said Tuesday on The View. “The coronavirus is not his fault, but the lack of speed and alacrity with which to respond to it has to move much faster.”
Less than 20 minutes before that interview, Biden’s campaign sent an email to supporters that struck a very different tone. “We must hold Donald Trump accountable for his failures in handling this pandemic,” it read.
In a March 1 Fox News interview, Biden said of Trump: “He doesn’t know how to run the country. He is making us more unsafe the way he is responding to the coronavirus. He has done virtually nothing well that I can see.”
On Sunday, Biden’s campaign said that Trump is “incapable” of being able to “calm and heal, lead the way with a steady hand, and provide a beacon of hope for the American people.”
[Read more: Where’s Joe Biden? In his basement, adjusting to a digital campaign style]
Biden added Tuesday that he thinks Trump should invoke legislation to force companies to produce medical equipment.
“I suggested he invoke the wartime legislation that allows him to be a wartime president in the Defense Production Act — where he can go into a company and say, ‘I want you to start producing ventilators. You have the capacity to do that,'” Biden said. “He signed the order, but he didn’t implement it.”
The Trump administration said Monday that the act was not necessary because private companies are willingly fulfilling the government’s requests.
