On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) stated that he wishes President Donald Trump had given the American people a fuller story on the risk of coronavirus early on, but also praised the actions of the Trump administration and stated that Trump would have been criticized if he had raised the alarm in January or early February and “there were multiple media outlets that were downplaying the virus threat to the country.”
Rubio said, “I mean, despite what you heard on that tape, they did the ban of entry from China. They began to move the operation of government. They ultimately mobilized private industry to have ventilators, at one time, there was a real fear that we would have a shortage of those. We’re going to have a vaccine faster than any time in the history of the world, and it’s going to be a real vaccine, not a fake Russian one. So, these are all things that have happened and have been mobilized, and they deserve credit for it. Now, do I prefer that the American people had been told, more fully, sort of the risks and the threat early on? Sure. I think there’s always the risk, of course, that if he had done that in January or early February, I can guarantee you that we would have seen the same reaction that we got when he did the China travel ban, and that there would have been criticism, oh, he’s trying to deflect from impeachment. Oh, he’s trying to rile people up. In fact, there were multiple media outlets that were downplaying the virus threat to the country. So, but that said, I think in hindsight, a few extra weeks of having — on the front end, having done more about it would have certainly been helpful. But I don’t think that negates all the positive things that they have done to help us respond to this truly unprecedented and historic challenge.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.