‘Sh*t Show’: Olivia Nuzzi Reports White House Staffers Are ‘Very Frustrated’ by Handling of Covid Spread

New York Magazine correspondent Olivia Nuzzi spoke with Chris Hayes Tuesday night about how people within the White House are reacting to the continued spread of coronavirus among the president’s staff.

In addition to the president and the First Lady, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, White House senior advisor Stephen Miller, members of the White House security detail, four staffers in the press shop, and more have tested positive.

So naturally, as Nuzzi reported, people who work in the White House have been “very frustrated” and have “concerns about their health and safety” and didn’t “received any guidance about what to if they were feeling ill until Sunday.”

She noted how a few months ago, with thousands of people already dead after contracting the virus, “the white house wasn’t even taking temperature anymore… so it seemed like as things started to open up again, there was kind of a similar sense in the White House that the threat was dying down and that basic precautions didn’t need to be taken, and now obviously we’re seeing the result of that, which is a huge spike that makes it look like the White House itself is a hot spot for this virus.”

Hayes highlighted it’s not just more high-profile officials around trump, but the White House valet and housekeepers and other support staff who have tested positive. He was also taken aback by a recent White House event with Gold Star families the day after the Amy Coney Barrett Rose Garden event.

Nuzzi said it was “always difficult to take the president seriously” when people wanted to give him credit for “stumbl[ing] into saying the right thing about the virus” sometimes:

“We would see his actions or we would see what the White House is doing which is, you know, totally odds with recommendations from his own doctors, his own experts… and I think it’s just kind of a shit show. I don’t know if I can say that on this show, but that is kind of the language that most White House people I talk to are repeating to me. Everyone is — as inevitable as this outcome was, I think people are still surprised that this is so on the nose.”

You can watch above, via MSNBC.