CNN’s Tapper Grills Ohio Gov on Trump’s ‘Empirically Reckless’ Conduct: ‘Does It Bother You’ He ‘Put Your Citizens at Risk?’

CNN’s Jake Tapper put Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) under pressure on Sunday during an interview over Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis and the president’s disregard for public safety.

As the president, several members of his administration, and numerous high-profile Republicans have tested positive for Covid-19, there has been a flurry of questions about whether or not the president’s team carried the virus with them to Cleveland for Trump’s first debate with Joe Biden. These concerns are compounded by the fact that Trump’s family and entourage refused to wear masks at the debate hall.

When DeWine joined State of the Union, Tapper started by asking if the White House ever contacted him to warn about their recent gatherings that seem, in retrospect, to have been super-spreader events. DeWine spun away by saying he wasn’t at the debate, so Tapper pressed on by pointing out that Trump’s team was likely contagious when they came to the state, and he continued to ask about contact tracing.

“They have not reached out to me,” DeWine answered. “I talked to the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic the other day who gave me an update, a report, so I don’t know whether they have reached out to Cleveland Clinic or not. They have not talked to me about it, no.”

From there, Tapper went off on the Trump’s “empirically reckless” actions throughout the last few weeks in light of his diagnosis.

I have to say, Governor, the president and his team were empirically reckless. In all likelihood, they brought the virus into your state. You’ve been working so hard…to try to help save lives in your state and to contain the spread. The president didn’t get tested before entering the hall even though he was supposed to. Some on his team turned down masks offered to them by Cleveland Clinic officials. His members of his family who walked in with masks took the masks off during the debate. You’re the governor of the state of Ohio. Does it bother you that the president and his team put your citizens at risk?

Tapper kept up this line of questioning by asking DeWine again “Doesn’t that upset you? It’s a simple question. You were elected to protect the citizens of Ohio and the president and his team were putting them at risk.”

Eventually, the conversation turned towards Trump’s repeated mocking of protective face masks, with Tapper saying “The president has been leading the charge mocking people who wear masks.” The CNN anchor pointed out that DeWine’s lieutenant governor was booed at a Trump rally for urging the crowd to wear them.

Watch above, via CNN.