Mitch McConnell: Impeachment Push 'Diverted' Government's Attention From Coronavirus
WASHINGTON ― The Democratic Party’s push to impeach President Donald Trump earlier this year distracted the U.S. government from the threat of the coronavirus, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday.
“It came up while we were tied down on the impeachment trial. And I think it diverted the attention of the government because everything every day was all about impeachment,” McConnell said in an interview with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt.
China reported its first death from coronavirus on Jan. 11, prior to the start of Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate. The first confirmed case in the U.S. came later that month on Jan. 21 in Washington State just as the Senate was beginning a contentious debate over rules for the impending impeachment trial.
While most of Washington, D.C., was focused on the historic trial in late January, senators did receive a briefing regarding the outbreak and the Trump’s administration’s preparedness efforts on Jan. 24, a few days into the proceedings.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for Trump to declare a public health emergency due to the virus on Jan. 26 in order to free up funds for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to fight the infectious disease. The Health and Human Services Department did so a few days later.
Trump, meanwhile, restricted travel by most people from China, where the outbreak began, on Jan. 31. But experts say he squandered what little time the move bought to stop the spread of the disease in the U.S.
Trump’s administration has faced an onslaught of criticism in recent days about its slow and muddled response to the coronavirus, from the lack of available testing and badly needed protective gear and ventilators at U.S. hospitals.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said that top Trump administration officials resisted calls from senators during a meeting on Feb. 5 ― a day prior to Trump’s acquittal in the Senate ―...
