CNN’s Erin Burnett Plays Montage Of Donald Trump Downplaying Coronavirus

On Friday, CNN anchor Erin Burnett played a montage of President Donald Trump downplaying the threat of the novel coronavirus, Mediaite reported.

“Nearly 140,000 Americans have died from the virus. At least eight states hitting a record number of deaths this week, and yet the president missing in action,” Burnett began her monologue.

Burnett pointed out that Trump has not held a press conference related to the coronavirus in 10 days, stating that the last time he attended a White House task force meeting was in April.

“Now Trump’s team is saying the president did not do something really, really important that he actually did do,” the anchor continued.

Burnett then played a compilation of Trump’s statements about the virus. On April 9, April 29, May 15, June 17 and July 2 Trump appeared to suggest that coronavirus will either go away on its own or be put under control by the government.

“Well, those are not ‘miniscule,’ ‘dying out,’ ‘under control,’ ‘leaving,’ ‘eradicated,’ ‘going away,’ or any of the other words he used,” Burnett said.

“He downplayed this. The pandemic has gotten worse and worse. Trump knows it and his entire team knows it.”

Burnett played the video clips in response to Trump campaign adviser Mercedes Schlapp’s claims that the commander-in-chief never dismissed the dangers posed by COVID-19.

Burnett was not the only one to refute such claims. As The Hill reported, earlier in the day, Schlapp clashed with CNN host Poppy Harlow. During the heated exchange, Schlapp defended Trump, repeatedly arguing that he never downplayed the threat of COVID-19.

She said that Trump “acted immediately” to stop the spread of the disease by banning travel to and from China. She also strongly pushed back against Harlow’s suggestion that the federal government has not provided governors across the nation with the resources they need to fight the pandemic.

After Harlow showed a clip of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan saying it was “hopeless” to wait for Trump to take action, Schlapp argued that the Trump administration has been successfully fighting the virus and ensuring that the drug remdesivir is available to all. She also noted that Trump and his team are deploying doctors to impacted states and working on a vaccine.

Polling suggests the American public disapproves of the way Trump has handled the response to coronavirus.

In fact, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released last week, 67 percent of Americans disapprove of the commander-in-chief’s handling of the unprecedented public health crisis.

The drop in approval ratings was recorded amid a nationwide resurgence of coronavirus cases.