Trump admits he asked to 'slow down' testing to reduce reporting of Covid-19 cases, slammed: 'This is crimimal'
President Donald Trump told a lackluster crowd gathered for his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday, June 21 that he asked officials to "slow the testing down" for the novel coronavirus as the pandemic's toll continues to rise. Covid-19 has now claimed over 119,000 lives in the United States alone as the count for number of infections crossed 2.25 million.
"You know testing is a double-edged sword," Trump said while complaining about media coverage of his handling of the virus. He said that the US has now tested some 25 million people. "Here's the bad part... when you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people; you're going to find more cases. So I said to my people, slow the testing down please."
After Trump's comment about asking to slow testing down, an administration official told CNN that the President was "obviously kidding."
Trump's comment came after Anthony Fauci told the Wall Street Journal earlier this week that increased testing does lead to more cases reported, but he said higher percentages of positive tests results in many states "cannot be explained by increased testing."
Before the rally, it was reported that six of Trump's campaign staffers working on the Tulsa rally had tested positive for Covid-19. Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement that "per safety protocols, campaign staff are tested for Covid-19 before events. Six members of the advance team tested positive out of hundreds of tests performed, and quarantine procedures were immediately implemented."
After Trump's comment during his rally, many took to social media to express their horror at the statement. A user tweeted, "This was Trump's strategy all along: NO TESTING = NO CASES That he is now admitting it on national TV is criminal. Trump is responsible for 120,000 deaths! #TrumpDeathToll120K." Another wrote, "This is like the end of a murder mystery when the murderer finally breaks and admits how he killed 120,000 people."
A user opined, "Wow...he just openly admitted, without any doubt, that he couldn't care less about the American people," while another wrote, "This is criminal." Another user tweeted, "He just admitted he wanted to hide the number of cases. Criminal. And they were shouting to lock HER up?!"
A user asked, "So the President just admitted to intentionally causing wider spread of disease by slowing testing, causing major illness, unemployment, bankruptcy, shutdowns and death to more people unnecessarily. Can we please have a class action on behalf of the American people?"
US Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi has stated that Congress would be pursuing an investigation after Trump's comments. Krishnamoorthi tweeted, "In case there’s any question: Congress will be pursuing answers on this because the American people deserve to know if their president sabotaged efforts to detect and contain COVID-19 because he didn’t like the results. The result he needs to focus on is the lives we can save."
Despite dismissing fears about the virus, the Trump campaign took legal precautions to avoid liability for a possible outbreak. The registration form had the rally's attendees sign a waiver to “assume all risks” of coronavirus exposure and agree not to sue the campaign if they get infected.