A co-founder of Home Depot claimed that Congress was too distracted with the impeachment of President Trump when it "should have been investigating" the coronavirus when it first appeared in China.
“I could tell you this: This whole country was tied up for 2 1/2 months on the impeachment. And nobody in Congress was doing what they had to do," Bernie Marcus said Monday morning on Fox Business. "Their eyes were not on where it should have been. They should have been investigating what was happening — this pandemic had started [in] China."
Congressional Republicans suggested last week that Trump was also distracted by his impeachment when the coronavirus first began spreading.
“It came up while we were tied down with the impeachment trial,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Hugh Hewitt's radio program on March 31. “And I think it diverted the attention of the government because everything every day was about impeachment.”
Democrats have pushed back on those claims.
"We have a life-and-death situation in our country, and they should not try to hide behind an excuse for why they did not take action, but it does admit that they did not take action," Pelosi responded. "Right now, we have to work together to get the job done."
Marcus, a supporter of Trump, said the media played a role in taking the public's eye off the ball as the virus spread across the globe.
"They were not aware of it because so they were so focused — the New York Times, and Washington Post and everybody else was so focused on the impeachment, and you know, I think that everybody, including the president, his eyes were focused on it also," Marcus said. "I think that we lost sight of what was really happening around the corner, and now it caught up with us.”
The coronavirus has infected more than 300,000 people in the United States, resulting in more than 10,000 deaths.
