White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany responded with quotes at-hand to a reporter who asked her if she would like to take back comments she made earlier this year downplaying the threat of the coronavirus.
“You made a comment, I believe on Fox, in which you said, ‘President Trump will not allow the coronavirus to come to this country,'” a reporter asked McEnany on Wednesday during a White House press briefing. “Given what has happened since then, obviously, would you like to take that back?”
“I was asked a question … about the president’s travel restrictions,” McEnany responded. “I noted what was the intent behind those restrictions.”
Regarding whether she regrets making those comments to Fox Business while she worked as Trump’s national press secretary for his campaign, McEnany said members of the media can ask themselves the same thing about stories they published during the pandemic’s early days that downplayed the severity of the disease.
“I guess I would turn the question back on the media and ask similar questions,” she said. “Does Vox want to take back that they proclaimed that the coronavirus would not be a deadly pandemic? Does the Washington Post want to take back that they told Americans to get a grip, the flu is bigger than the coronavirus?”
McEnany continued, “Does the Washington Post likewise want to take back that our brains are causing us to exaggerate the threat of the coronavirus? Does the New York Times want to take back that fear of the virus may be spreading faster than the virus itself?”
“I’ll leave with you with those questions,” McEnany said, concluding the press conference. “And maybe you’ll have an answer in a few days.”
