|
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany showed off the administration's plan to battle the coronavirus, holding up two binders of information to compare to them to the paper plan she said the Obama administration left for them
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany showed off the administration's plan to battle the coronavirus
She held up two binders of information to compare to them to the paper plan she said the Obama administration left for them
'This dead packet of paper was replaced by two detailed robust pandemic response reports commissioned by the Trump administration,' she said
Trump claimed Thursday that he did have a playbook to battle the pandemic
He had McEnany carrying binders to prove his point
One was a January 2018 plan titled 'Pandemic Crisis Action Plan Ver. 2.0'
She also held after-action report from 2019 'Crimson Contagion' simulation
The wargame simulated a deadly influenza pandemic originating in China
Report found severe deficiencies in federal preparedness for an outbreak
Warned of confusion in federal response over agency responsibilities
Predicted shortfall of masks and ventilators due to inadequate supply chains
Bluntly stated there was 'insufficient funding' designated for a pandemic
Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19 turn off the TV
By EMILY GOODIN, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER and NIKKI SCHWAB, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER and KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 21:37 BST, 15 May 2020 | UPDATED: 22:30 BST, 15 May 2020
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Friday showed off President Donald Trump's plan to battle the coronavirus, holding up two binders of information to compare to them to the paper plan she said the Obama administration left for them.
'This dead packet of paper was replaced by two detailed robust pandemic response reports commissioned by the Trump administration,' she said at her press briefing.
It was the same pandemic 'plan' that she waved at reporters on Thursday to show President Trump was in control of the coronavirus outbreak and it had been savaged by another report - that she was also holding.
The administration has long been criticized for not responding strong enough to the pandemic. This week they claimed to have a plan all along, as more than 86,000 have died from the disease and 36 million people lost jobs as businesses closed in the wake of the pandemic.
The full details of that plan have not been released to the public.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany holds up the Obama administration pandemic playbook and criticized President Obama for leaving the national stockpile depleted of medical supplies
McEnany waved around a copy of the 2018 plan and an after-action report from the 'Crimson Contagion' simulation exercise which took place in 2019 -- which harshly criticized the federal government's pandemic preparedness plan in the other binder.
She left that part out, however.
She said the after action report 'informed President Trump's coronavirus response beginning as early as January.'
She also repeatedly criticized former President Barack Obama, arguing he 'left the stockpile empty and to President Trump to refill it.'
She claimed the Trump administration stocked 92.7 million N95 masks, 133.7 million surgical masks, 22.4 million surgical gowns, 10.5 million face shields and almost 1 million gloves.
'We cleaned up the mess that was very clearly left by President Obama,' McEnany said.
'The Trump playbook and the whole of America response to this pandemic has far exceeded what this administration inherited,' she said and claimed that it 'will become the future playbook I believe for future administrations navigating a pandemic response.'
Trump insisted on Thursday that he did have a playbook to battle the pandemic as a whistleblower testified on Capitol Hill that a 'dark winter' was ahead because of a lack of 'standard, centralized, coordinated plan.'
The president, before he left to visit a medical supply factory in Allentown, Pennsylvania, had McEnany wave before reporters a binder containing the 2018 'Pandemic Crisis Action Plan Ver. 2.0.'
But she was also holding an after-action report from the 'Crimson Contagion' simulation exercise which took place in 2019 -- which harshly criticized the federal government's pandemic preparedness plan in the other binder.
The simulated scenario tested the capacity of the U.S. federal government and 12 states to handle a severe influenza outbreak originating in China, and warned of a disorganized response, funding shortfalls, and dangerous shortages of ventilators and medical masks.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany brandished this binder containing the January 2018 'Pandemic Crisis Action Plan Ver. 2.0.' to prove Trump had a plan for an outbreak
She also carried the 2019 after-action report from the Crimson Contagion wargame, which harshly criticized the federal government's pandemic preparedness
McEnany also criticized the pandemic plan left by the Obama administration (above)
Categories: New World Order, Health Care, Economy