It’s exhausting to rank the largest lies of the Trump administration’s COVID-19 response. However one stands out among the many relaxation.
At a time when determined People waited in miles-long strains to get COVID exams in perilously brief provide, and public well being consultants have been sounding the alarm that the crucial scarcity was tanking America’s pandemic response, Donald Trump claimed the US had a bountiful provide: “Anyone who needs a take a look at will get a take a look at.”
It was a whopper, with life-and-death stakes. The truth is, as Vainness Honest reported in July 2020, the White Home—the place Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was working a shadow coronavirus process pressure—had made a secret, legally dubious purchase of three.5 million Chinese language-made COVID exams by way of a United Arab Emirates firm, G42, which has shut ties to the UAE’s ruling household.
On the identical time, Kushner had huddled with private-sector testing consultants, and designed a complete nationwide resolution to the scarcity that will have ramped up provides and dramatically sped up take a look at outcomes. Besides the Trump White Home then killed the plan after figuring out that the unfold of the virus, which was principally hitting blue states at the moment, could possibly be blamed on Democratic governors. Greater than 1,000,000 People died amid the botched US response.
All that was horrible (although, in her capability as Trump’s spokesperson, Kayleigh McEnany did name our story “fully incorrect”). Right now, we discover out it was even worse than we knew. In line with the brand new ebook Struggle by Washington Submit affiliate editor Bob Woodward, Trump was secretly sending among the nearly-impossible-to-get COVID exams to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Right here is The Washington Post:
Brett Giroir, Trump’s COVID-19 testing czar, who oversaw procurement and distribution of exams on behalf of the US authorities, tells Vainness Honest that no such switch went by way of him or his group. “We didn’t ship any exams by way of me to Putin or to international governments, aside from the embassy in Mexico…. I used to be by no means requested to ship any to Putin or any international leaders.”
He says that when he took the function, in March 2020, “I knew the place each take a look at was within the nation, and actually managed the allocation.” He added, “That doesn’t imply that exams on the White Home, or by way of another private relationship” didn’t go to the Russian chief.
At a second when People have been battling to seek out important life-saving exams, the Trump White Home undisputedly managed a number of stashes of them. There have been the three.5 million exams from G42, improperly bought and shipped to the United Arab Emirates embassy in Washington, DC.
After which there have been the best-of-the-best, the Abbott Level of Care testing machines, which went to the White Home. “We purchased about 40% of Abbott’s world provide,” says Giroir. The exams have been used to make sure that these visiting the president have been infection-free.
These have been the exams that reportedly got siphoned to Putin. Says Rick Shiny, former Well being and Human Providers deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response, “Given the variety of lives at stake, it was unconscionable [of Trump] to deprive People of such crucial, life-saving instruments.”
Whether or not Kushner’s White Home process pressure was concerned in sending the premium exams to the Russian chief stays unclear. Kushner didn’t reply to a textual content message looking for remark. Vainness Honest acquired no speedy response to requests for remark from G42 or Kushner’s firm, Affinity Companions. In a press release, the Trump marketing campaign mentioned Woodward’s ebook contained “made up tales” and must be used as “bathroom tissue.”
In the meantime, many People acquired the G42 exams. Not solely have been these exams bought with no duly appointed contracting officer, no official gross sales document, and an bill that merely famous the consumer title as “WH,” brief for the White Home. Additionally they didn’t work. As a Well being and Human Providers cable despatched to the UAE embassy famous, “When the kits have been delivered they have been examined in accordance with normal procedures and have been discovered to be contaminated and unusable.”
