WATCH: Mercedes Schlapp and CNN’s Poppy Harlow Clash Over Trump’s Pandemic Response, Plunging Polls in Heated Interview

CNN’s Poppy Harlow clashed with Trump campaign senior adviser Mercedes Schlapp during a lengthy interview on President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response.

The two locked horns when discussing personal protective equipment (PPE) — as Schlapp took issue with the media and Dr. Anthony Fauci’s initial claims that people did not have to wear masks for protection against the coronavirus.

Harlow clarified that Fauci and other medical experts urged people not to wear masks when PPE supplies were low, in order to preserve them for doctors and others in need. Circumstances have changed, as data now proves there is a lower chance of transmitting the virus when masks are worn.

Harlow then asked why the president initially downplayed the virus, which Schlapp claimed is false, adding that he has taken the epidemic seriously throughout the outbreak.

“This president has taken decisive and bold actions from the beginning. When he medical experts came to him and said, look, we need to put these travel restrictions on China, he acted immediately,” she said before adding that the media has failed to ask Joe Biden questions regarding the pandemic.

“Oh, that is not true … Mercedes! Let’s stick to the president … Mercedes, I really, I fear … Mercedes, Mercedes! Please!…  We have got time so we do not need to talk over one another,” Harlow added, trying to get a word in. “I think it does a disservice to our viewer to do that, let’s not fight, let’s talk about the facts.”

Harlow read several examples of the president downplaying the virus from January to June, including claims that Covid-19 is fading away or that it will “go away without a vaccine.”

The two clashed over Gov. Larry Hogan’s claims that Trump has failed to focus on the coronavirus throughout the pandemic, Schlapp noting that it was a political move because Hogan has always been a critic of the president.

Harlow promised that she wants the administration to succeed and began to read experts from a White House study titled “Mitigating the Impact of a Pandemic Influenza Through Vaccine Innovation.”

“The Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) finds that in a pandemic year … the economic damage would range from $413 billion to $3.79 trillion,” Harlow read. “Fatalities in the most serious scenario would exceed half a million people in the United States.”

Schlapp insisted that Trump has been listening to health and economic advisors throughout the pandemic and claimed that Biden has no plan to handle the pandemic other than bashing the president.

Harlow then read several polls that showFauci is far more trusted than Trump when it comes to information regarding the pandemic, adding, “The president has a serious credibility crisis here.”

Schlapp ripped The Quinnipiac poll and maintained it leans more favorably towards Democrats and Independents, prompting Harlow to quickly dispute the claim and point out that 52 percent of rural voters and 55 percent of voters without college degrees do not trust coronavirus information provided by Trump. Harlow then listed six times that the president has praised Quinnipiac polls on Twitter, continuing to debunk Schlapp’s claims.

“Final question, 138,360. That’s the number of Americans who have died from Covid as of this morning,” Harlow said. “So in this moment why did this self-proclaimed wartime president take a photo hawking Goya beans behind the resolute desk, and it was posted on Instagram, here it is for everyone to see it. Why did he do that in this moment?”

Schlapp explained that it was in response to the intolerance and the “craziness of the left” for boycotting Goya after the CEO praised Trump, noting, “this man who has fed millions of Latinos, not only here in the United States but in Latin America, that they go after him because he said one nice thing about this president.”

Harlow doubled down on her question, asking why he took this moment, in particular, to promote a product, promising that she hopes all Goya employees do well in spite of the boycott.

Watch above, via CNN.

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