White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows: ‘We’re Not Going to Control the Pandemic’

In a contentious interview on Sunday with Jake Tapper, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows caught the CNN anchor’s attention when he said “we’re not going to control the pandemic.”

The interview began with a focus on the coronavirus outbreak emerging from Mike Pence’s office, which led to Tapper and Meadows locking horns on why the vice president is holding campaign rallies instead of complying with CDC guidelines. When Meadows tried to bash CNN by saying the network is erroneously reporting on how Covid-19 spreads among groups, Tapper shot back “it’s coming from all sorts of places because the pandemic is out of control.”

“So here’s what we have to do,” Meadows responded. “We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigations…”

“Why aren’t we going to get control of the pandemic?” Tapper asked.

“Because it is a contagious virus just like the flu,” Meadows said.

“But why not make efforts to contain it?” Tapper asked.

“We are making efforts to contain it” said Meadows.

“By running all over the country and not wearing a mask?” Tapper asked. “That’s what the vice president is doing.”

Meadows concluded by stressing the need for “therapies or vaccines or treatments,” then digressed in order to attack Joe Biden’s approach to the pandemic.

Watch above, via CNN.