2:21
- ABC News
- June 23, 2020
Trump contradicts aides on COVID-19: 'I don't kid'
His deputies had said the president had been joking at a recent rally.
2:21
In another interview recorded Monday, Trump was asked explicitly whether his comment had been \"tongue in cheek.\"
“It’s semi-tongue in cheek,\" the president told the Christian Broadcasting Network k. \"I say it all the time. I know some people thought it was tongue in cheek. It’s unfair. We're doing so much testing, so much more than any other country. And to be honest with you, when you do more testing, you find more cases.”
Asked if he ordered his staff to stop coronavirus testing, Trump said: \"No, but I think we put ourselves at a disadvantage. I told my people. I said, 'We've gotten so good at testing.'\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/kayleigh-mcenany-gty-jef-200622_hpEmbed_3x2_384.jpg\")
\"Instead of doing 25 million tests, let’s say we did 10 million tests,\" he added. \"We'd look like we were doing much better, because we'd have far fewer cases.\"
Apparently in reference to whether he told them to stop testing, he added: \"I wouldn't do that. But I will say this. We do so much more than other countries. It makes us, in a way, look bad, but actually we’re doing the right thing.\"
But then, one day later, Trump contradicted not just his aides but himself.
It was not the first time Trump and the White House press secretary found themselves in discord trying to explain a controversial comment from the president.
In April, after Trump was widely criticized for suggesting that an \"injection\" of a \"disinfectant\" could be used to treat coronavirus, McEnany first argued the comment had been taken out of context. Hours later, Trump said he had been speaking \"sarcastically.\"
On Tuesday, asked by a reporter outside the White House if he was kidding or if he had a plan to slow down testing, Trump replied: \"I don’t kid.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/trump-podium-ap-as-200620_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
As he had done Saturday, Trump explained that more testing leads to a higher number of coronavirus cases -- which can be true in absolute terms, but according to public health experts is not the sole reason for rising infection rates in many cities and states across the country. Testing a larger portion of the population can actually also lead to a decrease in the percentage of people who test positive, since with more tests available, people less likely to actually be infected – who would not have gotten tested before – get tested at a higher rate.
Despite those facts, Trump repeated his argument that \"the reason we have more cases than other countries is because our testing is so much.\"
He did not directly answer if he wanted testing in the U.S. slowed, instead explaining that \"testing is a double-edged sword.\"
\"In one way, it tells you you have cases,\" he said. \"In another way, you find out where the cases are and you do a good job.\"
A couple of hours later, two top U.S. public health officials, infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci and the coordinator of coronavirus testing at the federal level, Adm. Brett Giroir, said during a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday that neither Trump nor anyone in the administration had ever told them to slow testing.
Asked to explain the president saying, “I don’t kid,” McEnany told reporters aboard Air Force One Tuesday that, at his rally in Tulsa, Trump “was making a serious point, but he was using sarcasm to do that.”
\"The serious point he was making is that when you test more people, you identify more cases,” she said.
During an interview with Fox News that was recorded Monday and aired Tuesday morning, Trump said: “I don’t mean slow down, but if we did slow down or if we didn’t do so many, let’s say instead of 25 million tests, we did 5 million tests, we’d be very low in cases right now. And everybody would say, isn’t that wonderful?”
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed reporting.
This report was featured in the Wednesday, June 24, 2020, episode of “Start Here,” ABC News’ daily news podcast.
\"Start Here\" offers a straightforward look at the day's top stories in 20 minutes. Listen for free every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, the ABC News app or wherever you get your podcasts.
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