WATCH: Pence Defends Trump Blasting CDC Guidelines … With CDC Head Standing Right Next to Him
Vice President Mike Pence struggled on Wednesday after he faced a bombardment of questions about Donald Trump scoffing at health guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control.
Hours before the White House Coronavirus Task Force held a press conference on the reopening of schools in the fall, the president derided the CDC’s advice as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
“I disagree with the CDC on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools,” Trump said on Twitter. “While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!”
I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 8, 2020
During Wednesday’s news conference, reporters confronted the vice president on Trump’s tweet and asked “Do you also disagree with those guidelines, and are you concerned that you may be putting the health of students and teachers at risk trying to meet the president’s demand to reopen?”
Pence claimed that Trump’s policy objectives are “very consistent” with the CDC, but he mostly spun away from both questions before saying “We don’t want the guidance from CDC to be a reason why schools don’t open.”
“We want to partner with states, with local education officials, with governors, with local health officials, to find a way to meet their needs to open up,” Pence said. “I think the president’s statement this morning was simply reflective of that desire, but we remain very confident.”
Pence eventually went on to insist Trump meant in his statement that “if there are aspects of the CDC’s recommendations that are prescriptive or serve as a barrier to kids getting back to school, we want governors and local officials and education leaders to know that we are here to work with them.”
I think every American knows that we can safely reopen our schools and we want — as the president said this morning — to make sure what we’re doing doesn’t stand in the way of doing that.
Pence continued to face questions on the matter, dismissing concerns about viral spread since “children do not appear to be susceptible to serious illness from the coronavirus.” He eventually walked away from the podium to let CDC Chief Robert Redfield take questions after saying “we really do believe we can open the school safely, given what we have seen in terms of outcomes among children and also the kind of measures that we think we can put into effect to prevent the spread.”
Watch Pence’s remarks and Redfield’s reaction above, via Fox News.
