Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Thursday called on his Republican colleagues to condemn President Donald Trump for his comments to journalist Bob Woodward that he downplayed the threat of the oncoming coronavirus pandemic. Schumer said Republican senators should call on the president to tell the truth.
"Where the hell are you?" the New York Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe," addressing the GOP senators directly. "This is a national crisis. This man lies about everything."
He also warned that history will "record this as a dark moment" for Senate Republicans.
"You had a president who did this and they just bowed down," Schumer said. "They're scared to death of him because they know he's vindictive and frankly he has a base in each of their states."
He added that the situation with Trump is different from the one with former President Richard Nixon because during Nixon's era, there were still "some senators who had some degree of courage," but that is not happening now.
"[Mitch] McConnell as a leader sets an awful example," said Schumer. "He is totally cynical now, totally political. People need help. They're losing their jobs, they're losing money, they're losing their homes, they can't feed their kids."
Other countries are able to fight COVID-19 because they have leadership, but "we have none," he added.
Schumer said he does not buy that Trump didn't want to panic Americans.
"[He] is busy panicking America right now, telling women in the suburbs that your safety is at risk when the suburbs are not in any risk at all that way," said Schumer. "He doesn't mind panicking people when his interests are at risk."
Schumer refused to blame state governors for their response, as they did not have access to the same intelligence reports Trump did.
"Where were the people around Trump?" he said. "They should have blown the whistle. The people in the administration have far more blame than governors or anybody like that. They should have said something."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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