Sen. Mitt Romney on Tuesday accused President Trump and members of the White House coronavirus task force of inappropriately claiming victory over the challenge of widening the country’s testing capacity.
“I understand that politicians are going to frame data in a way that’s most positive politically. Of course, they don’t expect that from admirals,” Romney told Adm. Brett Giroir during a Senate coronavirus response oversight hearing.
Giroir is a leading member of the task force with a specific focus on increasing the number of coronavirus tests available to the public.
The admiral said the federal government could perform at least 40 million to 50 million tests per month by September.
“Yesterday, you celebrated that we had done more tests and more tests per capita even than South Korea,” Romney said. “But you ignored the fact that they accomplished theirs at the beginning of the outbreak, while we treaded water during February and March, and as a result by March 6, the U.S. had completed just 2,000 tests, whereas South Korea had conducted more than 140,000 tests.”
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On Monday, Trump said that the federal government had “met the moment” and “prevailed” on testing.
But governors in many states say they still cannot open their economies due to a lack of available testing. Trump had previously said enhancing testing capacity should be left to the states.
On South Korea, which Trump administration officials often cite, Romney said the country had “256 deaths, and we have almost 80,000 deaths. I find our testing record nothing to celebrate whatsoever.”
Romney, the only Republican senator to vote to remove Trump from office during his impeachment trial, has been a frequent critic of the president.
Trump has attacked Romney on several occasions since assuming the presidency, calling him a “failed presidential candidate” and leaving him off a list of nearly every senator the White House sought feedback from when responding to the pandemic.
