President Trump on Monday shared a tweet from game show host Chuck Woolery, who claimed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other sources of information are lying about the coronavirus pandemic to hurt the president in November’s election.
“The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most ,that we are told to trust,” Woolery tweeted.
The tweet was one of three Trump shared Monday morning from Woolery, an outspoken conservative who used to host “Wheel of Fortune” and “Love Connection,” among other shows. It is the latest instance of Trump undercutting the guidance of his administration’s own public health agencies amid a pandemic that has infected millions globally and killed more than 135,000 people in the United States.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters later Monday that Trump still has confidence in the CDC and that his retweet was aimed at “rogue individuals” within the agency.
“The president with his intent in that retweet expressed his displeasure with the CDC, some rogue individuals leaking prematurely,” McEnany said, citing agency planning documents for guidelines during the pandemic that have gone public before being finalized.
“He believes that that misleads the American public when there are planning materials released that are not in their fullest form and their best form,” she continued. “So that’s what he was getting at.”
“But overall, the notion of the tweet was to point out the fact that when we use science we have to use it in a way that’s not political,” McEnany added.
Trump has frequently ignored CDC guidance over the last few months as the pandemic has worsened in the U.S. He has held multiple large indoor gatherings over the last several weeks, despite the CDC and public health experts cautioning against such events.
The president on Saturday wore a mask for the first time in front of the media, months after the public health agency issued guidance encouraging the use of facial coverings to slow the spread of the virus.
And Trump last week complained that the CDC’s guidelines for schools resuming in-person learning were too “tough & expensive.”
“While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!” Trump tweeted.
Updated at 1:56 p.m.