Susan Page Confronts Pence About ‘Super-Spreader’ Event: How Can You Expect People to Follow Guidelines You Don’t Follow?

The first leg of the vice presidential debate was focused on the coronavirus, and moderator Susan Page of USA Today directly confronted Vice President Mike Pence about that fact that the coronavirus has spread throughout the White House.

President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and a number of top White House officials as well as lower-level staffers have tested positive for the coronavirus. An ABC News report released before the debate said an internal government memo calculated “34 White House staffers and other contacts” who have tested positive.

It is suspected that the recent White House event for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett may have been what medical experts refer to as a “super-spreader” event, given how a number of people who attended it — including Republican senators and former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway — have since tested positive.

Page asked Pence:

“You were in the front row in a Rose Garden event 11 days ago of what seems to be a super-spreader event for senior administration and congressional officials. No social distancing, few masks, and now a cluster of coronavirus cases among those who were there. How can you expect Americans to follow the administration’s safety guidelines to protect themselves from covid when you at the White House have not been doing so?”

Pence started by saying, “The American people have demonstrated over the last eight months that when given the facts, they are willing to put the health of their families and their neighbors and people they don’t even know first. President trump and I have great confidence in the American people and their ability to take that information and put it into practice.”

As for the actual event itself and how people weren’t following protocols, Pence said, “There’s been a great deal of speculation about it. My wife and I were there and were honored to be there. Many people at that event, Susan, were actually tested for coronavirus, and it was an outdoor event, which all of our scientists regularly, routinely advise.”

He went on to say, “The difference here is President Trump and I trust the American people to make choices in the best interest of their health.”

You can watch above, via Fox News.