Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that Republicans and President Donald Trump have allowed the coronavirus to “run free in the White House” because they are “anti-science.”
Trump checked into Walter Reed hospital Friday after announcing that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
“You can’t just say we need to do something but we’re going to let the virus run free,” Pelosi told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” Now it has even run free in the White House.” (RELATED: Mnuchin Is ‘Hopeful’ He Can Reach A Stimulus ‘Compromise’ With Pelosi This Week)
Pelosi said she had tested negative for the virus on Friday.
“So we have to be serious about this,” Pelosi continued. “Let me just back up for a second and say this: for a long time the Republicans in Congress and this president have been anti-science. They don’t trust science and they don’t believe in governance,” she said, noting that “science says you should be testing, tracing, treating, mask wearing, sanitation, separation, and the rest.”
While hair salons remained closed in the speaker’s congressional district, Pelosi ignored regulations, violated her social distancing rules by not wearing a protective face mask when she visited a hair stylist in late August.
Pelosi said Sunday that it is important for the American people to “have trust” that the Trump administration is being completely honest about the president’s health.
President Donald Trump leaves the White House for Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on the South Lawn of the White House on Oct. 2, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have both tested positive for coronavirus. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“We have to trust that what they’re telling us about the president’s condition is real. We have to have confidence in the judgment of the doctors who are treating him, that not only do they give a presentation — notice, when they give a presentation to the press, it has to be approved by the president. That’s not very scientific.” (RELATED: ‘I’m The Public Face’: Here’s A List Of Lawmakers Who Broke COVID Rules)
The speaker described the ongoing stimulus talks between her and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin as “making progress,” but said she was waiting for the administration to “agree on what we need to do to crush the virus.”