The Trump campaign on Sunday hit Democrats and news outlet Reuters for siding with the Chinese “and providing cover for Beijing’s cover-up” in the coronavirus pandemic.
The email follows a Reuters article that said the U.S. eliminated a CDC expert position in Beijing intended to help detect disease outbreaks in China months before the outbreak.
“According to Reuters, the CDC's resident adviser to the U.S. Field Epidemiology Training Program in Beijing – 680 miles from Wuhan – decided to leave her position in July 2019, and she was not replaced. The first cases of the coronavirus seem to have emerged in Wuhan at least four months later,” the Trump campaign said in an email Sunday.
“The CDC told Reuters that this “had absolutely nothing to do with CDC not learning of cases in China earlier,’” it argued.
Additionally, the campaign said, “one disease expert told Reuters he was skeptical that the U.S. resident adviser would have been able to get earlier or better information to the Trump administration, given the Chinese government’s suppression of information.”
The Trump campaign also defended the president’s use of the term “Chinese virus” and praised his aggressive move to counter Beijing’s “propaganda campaign.”
“If only other American leaders had the guts to do the same,” the email said.
The campaign also included comments made by a senior Trump administration official that China’s actions were dangerous “because their censorship supercharged a virus that has now turned into a global pandemic.
“By ignoring their responsibility and deflecting attention away from the core problem — their misgovernance — they are avoiding the transparency that ultimately keeps their people, and us, safe,” the person said.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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