CNN host Alisyn Camerota pressed Trump campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley on Wednesday over the coronavirus, a day after the White House science office listed “ending the COVID-19 pandemic” as one of President Trump’s accomplishments.
In an interview on CNN’s “New Day,” Camerota pressed Gidley on the White House assertion.
“Hogan, I’m just talking about the language here,” Camerota said. “Why does it say as a top accomplishment ‘ending the COVID-19 pandemic’? Do you think it has ended?”
Gidley, who previously worked at the White House before joining the Trump campaign, responded by saying he didn’t write the document and that the president has not been saying the pandemic is over.
Camerota then pressed him on whether the White House document is erroneous because it uses the word “ending.”
“I’m not looking at the document. I don’t know what the document says or how it characterizes the word ‘ending,’ but I’m not going to quibble over semantics,” Gidley said. “The fact is, we’re moving in the right direction.”
As the 2020 campaign nears the finish line, Trump has largely dismissed the recent surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, painting a rosy outlook of the pandemic. He has regularly insisted that the U.S. is “rounding the turn” on the virus, a view disputed by public health officials.
Meanwhile, at least five people in Vice President Pence’s circle have tested positive for the virus, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said on Monday that the country is not going to control the virus.
More than 8.7 million people in the U.S. have contracted the coronavirus since the pandemic began, according to John Hopkins University. More than 226,000 have died.