Donald Trump told FOX News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday night that the ventilator situation is in “great shape,” citing a report from Hannity's show.
Said Trump: “In fact, I just saw your show and a couple of other people just reported back to me that everyone is in great shape from the standpoint of ventilators which are very hard because they are expensive and big and they are very high tech. But they are very hard to get and we are building thousands of them, and we have that in good shape.”
But evidence suggests that the ventilator situation in the hardest hit areas is still dire.
Politico reports: “California is loaning 500 ventilators to states like New York where the coronavirus is exacting a deeper toll, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday. The act of generosity completes a bi-coastal aid package after both Washington and Oregon lent medical supplies to New York, which is battling the nation's worst outbreak. Ventilators from California will flow into the Strategic National Stockpile. Oregon announced Saturday it was sending 140 ventilators to New York, while Washington said Sunday it was returning more than 400 of the machines.”
Trump also puffed up his relationship with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has been praised for his response to the crisis. Trump also praised New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, but attacked other governors, calling them “animals” and saying they've done a “poor job.”
“Rather than naming them tonight, I won't bother,” Trump said. “We've gotten along very well with de Blasio, I think we've gotten along very well with Andrew.”
Of others, he said “it wouldn't matter what you did, you could give 'em ten times more than they asked, if the newspapers called and wanted a quote, they'd give you a bad quote, because that's the way they are. They're political animals.”
Trump also talked about opening up the country: “I'd love to open with a big bang, one beautiful country and just open. We're looking at two concepts. We're looking at the concept where you open up sections and we're also looking at the concept where you open up everything.”
The full interview:
