On May 1, 2020, the White House announced that they would prevent top health official Dr. Anthony Fauci from testifying to a congressional committee examining the administration’s pandemic response. the White House called it “counterproductive” to have individuals involved in the response testify. White House spokesman Judd Deere said that the administration was “committed to working with Congress to offer testimony at the appropriate time.”
In July 2020, officials from the Center for Disease Control were blocked by the White House from testifying to the House Education and Labor Committee about school re-openings. The move came amid record-breaking spikes in COVID-19 cases.
As of July 15, 2020, the Trump administration issued an order demanding hospitals to report COVID-19 patient data directly to the Department of Health and Human Services, rather than the Center for Disease Control.
The White House claimed that the CDC’s collection and reporting system, which has historically been used for the collection of disease data, was too slow and ineffectual for COVID-19 reporting. CDC Director Robert Redfield has also asserted that the move would streamline data collection and reporting.
Other senior CDC officials, hospital epidemiologists, and Democrat Senators have raised concerns over the move, alleging that it puts the transparency and legitimacy of the reported numbers into question. It was considered especially alarming, as Trump previously said he asked officials to slow down testing to keep COVID-19 cases artificially low. The private company managing the new collection system, TeleTracking Technologies, Inc., was awarded the $10 million contract in a non-competitive bid.
The change came amid new record-breaking spikes in US COVID-19 cases. On the day of the change, the US totaled 3,621,637 cases and 140,155 deaths. The same week, the White House also blocked the CDC from testifying to Congress about school re-openings.
On June 5, 2020, Trump toured a production facility for medical swabs in Maine amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump and his entourage wore no mask or protective covering. The workers present wore extensive personal protection equipment, including lab coats, masks, gloves, goggles, hair coverings and plastic booties.
Trump visits Maine production facility on June 5, 2020. AP
The company, Puritan Medical Products, said it would discard the swabs that were being manufactured at the time of Trump’s visit. The company’s press release clarified that a limited production was run for the visit, and that it was always intended that what was produced that day would be discarded.
At that time, nasal swabs for specimens were in low supply, and a third of Maine nursing homes reported having none. Sarah Gideon, Democratic candidate for US Senate, criticized any disruption of production for critical medical supplies.
President Trump shouldn't have come to Maine for a photo op, but that's exactly what he did. Now Maine frontline workers have to throw away crucial testing supplies that states across the country desperately need as they combat coronavirus. #mepoliticshttps://t.co/wFCEUs6mwD
On the day of Trump’s visit, the United States totaled 1,967,359 cases and had suffered 113,798 deaths.
Trump had drawn criticism for visiting medical production facilities in May without a mask. During one he said he wanted to avoid giving the press “the pleasure,” while “Life and Let Die” played over loudspeakers during the other.
On May 5, 2020, Trump toured a Honeywell International plant in Phoenix to visit a Honeywell International plant that manufactured N95 masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump and his entourage did not wear masks, despite workers being required to, and signs directing them to be worn at all times. He later said that he consulted with the CEO ahead of his visit to avoid using one.
Trump’s visit became especially notable when it was pointed out that the Guns N’ Roses song “Live and Let Die” was blaring over the speaks during his visit.
Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses had previously demanded that the Trump administration stop using their music for events.
Just so ya know… GNR like a lot of artists opposed to the unauthorized use of their music at political events has formally requested r music not b used at Trump rallies or Trump associated events.
On May 21, 2020, Trump toured the Michigan Ford Motor factory, which had been repurposed to manufacture ventilators and other medical devices amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite it being policy that a mask was mandatory in the factory by both the company and the state, Trump emerged in front of cameras without one.
When asked why he didn’t wear a mask, Trump explained that he had earlier, but “did not to want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.”
On the day of his visit, the United States had totaled 1,633,721 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and suffered 98,764 deaths.
Without a mask, Trump previously toured a factory manufacturing COVID-19 related equipment while the song “Live and Let Die” played over the loudspeaker. He again later toured a factory without a mask, which then discarded the day’s product.
On July 1, 2020, Trump repeated past claims that COVID-19 would “at some point just sort of disappear.”
Trump also claimed in the interview that he had “always been for” masks. However, he long refused to wear a mask, even when touring medical device facilities where it was required. In one such instance, he told the media he purposefully avoided wearing one because he didn’t want “to give the press the pleasure.”
He commented further that he liked how he looked in them, likening it to “the lone ranger.”
On that day, the United States totaled 2,779,719 cases and 130,761 deaths.
With the implementation of the Affordable Healthcare Act, the Obama administration determined that its anti-discrimination measures included matters of gender identity, which it defined as “male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female.”
In 2019, the Trump administration eliminated the provision, allowing for gender discrimination by federal law. The same week, the Trump administration also eliminated anti-discriminatory measures based on gender for federal housing.
The new healthcare rules were finalized in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In April 2020, Trump announced a 60-day memorandum on immigration.
In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!
The order was limited to would-be immigrants living outside the country seeking a green card. It had some significant exceptions, like for the spouse or child of a citizen, military service members, and medical professionals. It did not affect anyone already within the United States.
Supporters of further immigration controls regarded the provisions as too limited, while immigration advocates worried that the 60-day period and those affected could be easily expanded.
A month after the order, the administration announced an expansion in an attempt to retain more jobs for citizens in the wake of COVID-19. The new regulations banned entry on certain visas through rest of the year, including including high-skilled H-1B visas. The order also had exceptions for agricultural, healthcare, and food industry workers.
At a June 20, 2020 rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump said he asked officials to slow their testing for COVID-19.
When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people slow the testing down, please. They test and they test. We had tests and people don’t know what’s going on. We got tests, we got another one over here. The young man’s 10-years-old. He’s got the sniffles. He’ll recover in about 15 minutes. That’s a case, add him to it. That’s okay. That’s a case.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany responded to questions saying, “any suggestion that testing has been curtailed is not rooted in fact.” and that Trump’s remark “was a comment that he made in jest.”
In a subsequent interview, when asked if the remark was true, Trump failed to answer the question.
TRUMP: If we did slow it down, we wouldn’t show nearly as many cases. You’re showing people that are asymptomatic, you’re showing people that have very little problem, you’re showing young people that don’t have a problem. But we’re doing so much testing, 25 million tests.
ST. GEORGE: But did you ask to slow it down?
TRUMP: Uhh, if it did slow down, frankly, I think we’re way ahead of ourselves, if you want to know the truth. We’ve done too good a job, because every time we go up – with 25 million tests, you’re going to find more people. So then they say, ‘oh we have more cases in the United States.’ The reason we have more cases is because we do more testing than any other country by far.
VIDEO: Just asked President Trump if he actually ordered testing to be slowed down. He said in his Saturday speech he did. He didn't answer the direct question. pic.twitter.com/aDKGu6F2Ok
Though administration officials said Trump was likely joking, when asked if this was the case four days after his original remark, Trump replied, “I don’t kid. Let me just tell you. Let me make it clear.”
On the day of the Tulsa rally when Trump made the original remark, the United States had suffered 192,180 deaths, over twice all the Americans lost in wars from Vietnam to the modern day combined.
