Romney Calls Out US Handling of Coronavirus: ‘Not a Great Moment in American Leadership’

Senator Mitt Romney (R- UT) criticized the federal government response to the coronavirus at an event on Tuesday.

Without mentioning President Donald Trump by name, Romney said, “Clearly we were not in a position of extraordinary strength” on the first phase of the response. “We didn’t have the testing as fast as we could have or should have, we did not have the personal protective equipment we would’ve hoped to have.”

.@SenatorRomney: “The first phase we didn’t look real strong and that’s kind of an understatement. But, after this is over, I think what we will be have been able to do and our technology base will maintain the reputation we have as being a leader if not the leader of the world.” pic.twitter.com/91CO7hIxxc

— CSPAN (@cspan) April 29, 2020

In terms of crisis management, Romney said there weren’t really “great moments in American leadership,” saying “the speed of our response looked slow compared to other people.”

He was encouraged that the U.S. would be able to stand out on the recovery and stimulus phases of the response, but said again, “The first phase, we didn’t look real strong, and that’s kind of an understatement, but after this is over, I think what we will have been able to do and our technology base will maintain the reputation we have as being a leader, if not the leader of the world.”

You can watch above, via C-SPAN.