Savannah Behrmann, USA TODAY
Published 12:42 a.m. ET June 23, 2020 | Updated 1:50 p.m. ET June 23, 2020
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Of the confirmed two million coronavirus cases, more than 113,000 Americans have died since the virus emerged here a few months ago.
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats sent a letter to the Health and Human Services Department watchdog, seeking an investigation into President Donald Trump’s claim he asked “his people” slow down testing for the coronavirus.
During his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday night, Trump reiterated that increased coronavirus testing leads to a higher number of cases identified in the United States, calling testing a “double-edged sword.”
“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,” Trump said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.'”
His declaration was met with widespread criticism, while White House staff and Trump campaign staff dismissed the remarks as humor. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Sunday that was “tongue in cheek.”
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT., and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts wrote to the HHS’s acting inspector general, General Christi Grimm, on Monday, asking for a review of all COVID-19 testing funding streams “to determine whether any programs have been ‘slowed down’ at the request of President Trump.”
“This statement—in which the President implies that he cares more about superficially minimizing the threat of COVID-19 than about stopping a virus that has killed nearly 120,000 of our nation’s people, and that he has sought to undermine efforts to increase testing that are necessary to identify and slow viral outbreaks—is abhorrent,” they continued. “It also suggests that political actors in the Administration may have listened to the President and taken steps to ‘slow’ federal initiatives designed to expand COVID-19 diagnostic testing.”
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Trump’s comments regarding testing remain consistent with some previous comments he’s made. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump repeated an assertion that coronavirus testing is “overrated” and said he would not seek widespread screenings if there is a nationwide spike.
“Diagnostic testing is a critical tool to help public health officials and local leaders identify new COVID-19 cases and track the spread of the virus, but it appears that President Trump does not support federal efforts to expand access to COVID-19 tests and has undermined efforts to increase testing,” the Senators wrote.
The Paycheck Protection Program, $484 billion bipartisan legislation, included funding for a coronavirus testing program.
USA TODAY has reached out to the Health and Human Services Department for comment.
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