Trump Speaks on Pfizer Vaccine Breakthrough, Takes No Questions in First Presser Since Election Called for Biden

President Donald Trump spoke Friday — his first public appearance before the press since Joe Biden was declared the election winner — in a press conference on the U.S. coronavirus response and the Pfizer announcement of a vaccine breakthrough.

He said of Pfizer’s announcement, “This far exceeds any and all expectations. Nobody thought they’d get to that level, and we have others coming which we think will be at equal level. Maybe more, if that’s possible.”

Trump continued defending his administration’s handling of the pandemic — which he claimed we were “rounding the turn” on before the election — and said at one point, “Case levels are high, but a lot of the case levels are high because of the fact that we have the best testing program anywhere in the world. We have developed them most and the best test, and we test far more than any other country, so it shows, obviously, more cases.”

It is not just tests that are rising. This week reported not only record high numbers of cases but hospitalizations, and a memo from Dr. Deborah Birx earlier this month pushed back on what the president has publicly said multiple times:

Birx’s report goes to pains to dispute Trump’s false claims that coronavirus cases are increasing only because of increases in testing. Monday’s report notes that although testing is flat, a rising number of tests are positive, suggesting “community spread is much worse than is evident by current [measurements].”

Administration officials spoke after Trump talking up the accomplishments of Operation Warp Speedh, with HHS Secretary Alex Azar praising Trump for his leadership during the pandemic.

After Vice President Mike Pence spoke, Trump ended the press conference without taking any questions — though reporters tried shouting out questions about him losing the election to Biden and his own baseless claims about the voting as he walked away.

You can watch above, via Fox News.

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