Pelosi Lambasts Trump for Blaming Slow Virus Response on Impeachment: We’ve A Life-and-Death Situation

By Staff, Agencies

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissed as an “excuse” claims from US President Donald Trump and the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell that impeachment proceedings distracted the president from appropriately responding to the coronavirus pandemic during its initial outbreak.

“We have a life-and-death situation in our country, and they should not try to hide behind an excuse for why they do not take action,” the California Democrat said.

“That’s an admission that perhaps the president and the majority leader cannot handle the job,” Pelosi added.

House Democratic leaders have targeted 20 April as the earliest they are likely to call members back to Washington to continue legislating the government’s response to the health crisis.

Relatively, Senate Republicans, who control that chamber’s majority, have adopted a wait-and-see approach for calling senators back before considering new relief proposals.

House Democrats, for their part, promised to conduct aggressive oversight of the administration’s response to the health crisis once the virus’s impact abates.

The impeachment trial “diverted the attention of the government, because everything, every day was all about impeachment,” McConnell told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt Tuesday.

Impeachment proceedings wrapped up when the Senate voted to acquit Trump on 5 February. Trump announced restricted travel from China, where the virus originated, on 31 January, but the first death from Covid-19 in the western world wasn’t announced until 14 February.

After weeks of downplaying the coronavirus as no more dangerous than the common flu, and seeking ways to keep the economy afloat during the pandemic, Trump appeared on Tuesday to accept the harsh facts that the crisis will inflict a steep death toll and economic damage on the US.