Trump slams Pelosi for using coronavirus to gain political mileage: 'She’s not thinking about the country'
President Trump tore into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuch Schumer on Wednesday after they criticized his response to the coronavirus threat. The US commander-in-chief charged that the duo was engaging in politics while he was trying to protect the health and safety of the American populace.
During a White House press briefing about the coronavirus, Trump was asked about the California Democrat's statement that he didn't know what he was doing in his response to the outbreak of the deadly virus. “I think Speaker Pelosi is incompetent. I think she’s not thinking about the country,” the President responded, the New York Post reports.
“Instead of making a statement like that where I’ve been beating her routinely at everything, instead of making a statement like that, she should be saying we have to work together because we have a big problem potentially and maybe it’s going to be a very little problem,” he continued. “I hope that it’s going to be a very little problem but we have to work together. Instead, she wants to do the same thing with ‘Crying’ Chuck Schumer."
The New York senator had criticized the Trump administration's request for $2.5 billion to combat the virus. According to him, it wasn't enough and Congress should spend at least $8.5 billion to deal with the situation.
“He goes out and says the president only asks for $2.5 billion. He should have $8.5 billion. This is the first time I’ve ever been told we should take more, usually, it’s we have to take less,” Trump said.
“He shouldn’t be making statements like that because it’s so bad for the country, and Nancy Pelosi, she should go back to her district [and get it] cleaned it up. I’m just saying, we should all be working together. She’s trying to create a panic and there’s no reason to panic because we have done so good,” Trump asserted.
According to Trump, all that the Democrats are doing is "trying to do is get a political advantage." "This isn’t about political advantage, we’re all trying to do the right thing," he said. "They shouldn’t be saying this is terrible, President Trump isn’t asking for enough money. How stupid a thing to say?”
(asos Katopodis/Getty Images)
In response to Trump's statement, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill retweeted a video on Monday of the House Speaker making fortune cookies in San Francisco with the message, “United We Stand.”
“This is what competent leadership looks like,” Hammill wrote in the caption. “The Speaker on Monday visited San Francisco’s Chinatown, the beautiful heart of her district, to urge calm and support local businesses. Ridiculous to suggest her actions have caused panic.”
Schumer also chimed in with a statement to The Post. “This is not political," he said. "Our proposal was put together after hearing from public health experts and looking at historical precedents, like in 2009 when Congress appropriated over $7B to fight the H1N1 flu."
“My message to the president is simple: It was incompetent and dangerous to propose cuts to CDC funding or simply trust other governments (like China) to handle this. Simply incompetent," he concluded.