President Trump said that he was not joking about ordering a slowdown in coronavirus testing, contradicting many White House officials.
“I don’t kid,” Trump replied when asked Tuesday about his remarks.
At his rally on Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump told the crowd, “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people. You’re going to find cases. So, I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’ They test and they test. We got tests for people who don’t know what’s going on.”
Trump was quickly condemned by Democrats for the remarks.
His aides explained the remarks away by saying that Trump was joking. Vice President Mike Pence said the comments were made “in jest,” and trade adviser Peter Navarro described them as “tongue-in-cheek.” Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said that he knew of no order from Trump to slow down testing.
Trump also called testing a “double-edged sword” Tuesday, but he praised the United States for conducting millions of tests.
