Biden Campaign Statement on Donald Trump Admitting He Ordered the Slowing of COVID-19 Testing

Tonight, in response to President Trump saying he ordered the slowing of COVID-19 testing during his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Biden for President Deputy Campaign Manager and Communications Director Kate Bedingfield released the following statement:

“In an outrageous moment that will be remembered long after tonight’s debacle of a rally, President Trump just admitted that he’s putting politics ahead of the safety and economic well-being of the American people — even as we just recorded the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in almost two months and 20 million workers remain out of work.

“Trump’s catastrophic mismanagement of our nation’s response to the worst public health crisis in over 100 years began with ignoring countless warnings from his own officials and selling us out to the Chinese government for a hollow trade deal — and that mismanagement continues to this day as he continues to put his own political interests first while many states see spikes in deadly infections.

“More than three months ago, Donald Trump claimed that ‘anybody that wants a test can get a test.’ This was a lie — one that cost thousands of lives. Tonight in Tulsa, the President explained why America lagged so many other nations in testing: because he ‘said to my people slow the testing down please.’

“Many of Trump’s words have divided the country. Many have outraged the country. But few have done more damage to the health and safety of the American people than a presidential order to federal officials that they ‘slow down’ the supply of a critical medical test during a pandemic.

“This virus has killed nearly 120,000 Americans and cost tens of millions their jobs, in large part because this president could not and would not mobilize testing as quickly as we needed it. To hear him say tonight that he has ordered testing slowed — a transparent attempt to make the numbers look better — is appalling. Americans deserve a president who will not make excuses in a crisis. They deserve a president who will lead, and that’s exactly what Joe Biden will do.”