Atlanta mayor: ‘As a mother of four children I do not trust this president with their lives’

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) criticized President Trump’s push for schools to reopen in the fall amid surging coronavirus cases — as both a lawmaker and a mother. 

“As a mother of four children I do not trust this president with their lives,” Bottoms said Monday on a call with reporters.

Bottoms said her family is a “prime example” of what can happen when children are sent back into “unsafe classrooms.” One of her four children was infected with COVID-19 but was asymptomatic. 

“As we contemplate sending our children back into school this is what our teachers, our custodians, our bus drivers and so many others in schools will face — children who are asymptomatic who may unintentionally infect those who don’t have the ability ward off this virus,” Bottoms said. 

Bottoms and her husband also tested positive for COVID-19. Bottoms has said she didn’t experience any symptoms, but she said Monday that it was “nothing short of astonishing” to see her husband brought to his knees from the virus. 

“This is what our workers in our schools will face when we send our children back into schools this fall,” Bottoms added. 

Bottoms was one of two Democrats who spoke to reporters on the Monday call with Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) also criticized Trump’s push, as both a lawmaker and a mother of school-aged children. She said her three children, ages 8, 12 and 14, are enrolled year-round in public school in Irvine. 

“I want to be clear about what’s at stake here: Children and teachers will get the virus. They will bring it home to their families, they will spread it to other community … some will get sick and some are going to die,” Porter said. “It’s an absolute failure of leadership to send kids and teachers back into a classroom without so much as a sticky note checklist on how to keep them safe, much less detailed plan.” 

She added that the administration’s push is “not a plan” but rather a “death sentence.” 

Georgia and California are two of many states across the U.S. experiencing increasing COVID-19 cases. Nationwide the virus has infected more than 4 million people and killed 146,968, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. 

Porter slammed the Trump administration for squandering months of opportunity to create a plan for the start of the school year, including the potential to safely bring kids back to school or aid districts’ shift to virtual learning plans. 

Democrats have widely condemned the Trump administration’s push for schools to reopen. The administration has even threatened to cut funding from schools that don’t offer options for in-person instruction. 

Perez said Trump’s push to reopen schools is a political decision to aid his reelection campaign. The Democrats’ criticism came the same day the DNC released an ad, reportedly set to run on cable channels across battleground states, attacking Trump’s push to reopen schools. 

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment in response to the attack ad.