Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney defended the administration’s response to the growing coronavirus epidemic and blamed the media for hyping the issue to damage President Trump.
Appearing as the first speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday, Mulvaney said that the administration has been working a counter-virus plan for six weeks, including meetings on Capitol Hill and flight bans from Asia.
He noted, for example, that in a meeting six weeks ago with lawmakers, just five senators and about 10 House members showed up.
“We took extraordinary steps four or five weeks ago. Why didn’t we hear about it? What was going on four or five weeks ago? Impeachment. And that’s all the press wanted to talk about. So while real news was happening and we were dealing with it in a way, I think that you would be extraordinarily proud of,” Mulvaney said.
“But the press is covering [impeachment] because they thought … it would bring down the president,” he added.
“The reason they are paying so much attention to it today is that they think this is going to bring down the president, that’s what this is all about,” said Mulvaney.
He said that a reporter emailed him today to ask what the president planned to do to “calm the markets,” which have been in a free fall over worries the virus will hurt the global economy.
Mulvaney said, “Turn off your televisions for 24 hours.”
