Jake Tapper Goes Off to Covid Testing Czar: Trump Is ‘Constantly Undermining Your Message About Mask Wearing’

CNN’s Jake Tapper confronted Admiral Brett Giroir, the White House coronavirus testing czar, on Sunday over failures in the U.S. covid response and President Donald Trump “undermining” public health guidances.

Tapper pointed to a lack of mask-wearing and social distancing at recent Trump rallies, asking of the coronavirus response, “How is this not a failure, and how is President Trump leading us out of it in the right way, according to your own words?”

Girior said that he wants to make sure “people are empowered to know that they can slow the spread and change the course, they can save lives by doing the things we talk about, wearing a mask.”

He didn’t respond to the Trump rallies specifically but emphasized the importance of wearing masks if you can’t physically distance.

“What about the rallies?” Tapper asked. “Dave Matthews isn’t touring this year because of the risk to his fans. But President Trump is doing these rallies. The people are not wearing masks. These are super-spreader events potentially.”

“So again, I just want to repeat what I said. Biology is independent of politics…” Giroir started.

“Don’t tell me, tell President Trump!” Tapper said.

The CNN anchor ended the interview minutes later with a more direct message to Giroir about the mixed message the president is spreading:

“I just want to say before you go, and I know you won’t comment on this because I tried to get you to, the most powerful person in this country is constantly undermining your message about mask wearing. You need to convince him to change that message, because one of the reasons spread continues is because people are not respecting the words you are saying, words that I think are really important.”

You can watch above, via CNN.