During his rally in Tulsa over the weekend, Trump admitted that he intentionally slowed down testing to falsify reported coronavirus case numbers.
"Here's the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you're gonna find more people, you're gonna find more cases. So I said to my people, 'slow the testing down please!'" — Trump pic.twitter.com/m5MOV9je70
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 21, 2020
In response, the White House has claimed Trump was joking. But the truth is that the administration has been withholding almost $14 billion in funding for testing and contact tracing.
NBC News: Top Democrats say Trump sitting on $14 billion for coronavirus testing, contact tracing
- “The Trump administration has been sitting on nearly $14 billion in funding that Congress passed for coronavirus testing and contact tracing, according to Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Patty Murray of Washington.” [NBC News, 6/22/20]
- “The top Democrats said in a letter Sunday to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar that the Trump administration has ‘still failed’ to distribute more than $8 billion out of $25 billion appropriated by Congress to expand testing and contact tracing. The letter indicated that Congress passed these funds as part of a coronavirus relief bill in April.” [NBC News, 6/22/20]
- “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also hasn’t awarded nearly $4 billion for surveillance and contact tracing at the state and local levels and tribal territories, they said, and very little of $2 billion set aside for free testing for uninsured people has been disbursed.” [NBC News, 6/22/20]
“The White House was quick to claim that Trump’s shocking admission that he was intentionally slowing down testing to make the coronavirus numbers look better was just a joke. But it was never a joke — it’s literally their policy. By withholding $14 billion slated for testing and contact tracing, Trump is again putting his own selfish political interests ahead of the health and economic wellbeing of millions of Americans as coronavirus cases continue to spike and more lives are lost,” said Zac Petkanas, Director of Protect Our Care’s Coronavirus War Room.