Donald Trump accused Nancy Pelosi of deleting a video from her Twitter that he claims proves she is responsible for several deaths related to coronavirus after urging people to visit Chinatown in San Francisco.
‘Crazy Nancy Pelosi deleted this from her Twitter account. She wanted everyone to pack into Chinatown long after I closed the BORDER TO CHINA,’ Trump tweeted Thursday afternoon, claiming the comments from the House Speaker came weeks after the span of the threat was known.
‘Based on her statement, she is responsible for many deaths. She’s an incompetent, third-rate politician!’ he asserted.
In the video Pelosi urged people to continue coming to Chinatown, and it circulated after Trump ally Charlie Kirk posted it Wednesday sarcastically claiming ‘it would be a shame if this went viral so that EVERY Americans sees it.
‘It looks like Nancy Pelosi deleted this video of her in Chinatown on February 24th,’ Kirk claimed in his tweet. ‘Why could that be? It’s almost as if she doesn’t want the American people to see it.’
Trump often called COVID-19 the ‘Chinese virus’ in March as it originated in Wuhan in China’s Hubei province.
Many claim the phrase is racist and incited violence against Asian Americans – and the president eventually let up on using the term to reference coronavirus.
Donald Trump posted a video of Nancy Pelosi urging people to go to Chinatown, claiming she made the comments weeks after he shut down travel from China and insisting she is responsible for deaths from coronavirus because of the comments
Trump posted the tweet after ally Charlie Kirk posted the video, sarcastically claiming it would be a ‘shame if this went viral.’ He provided no proof that the video had originally been posted on Pelosi’s Twitter or the timeline of when the comments were made
The House Speaker’s Deputy Chief of Staff Drew Hammill claimed Pelosi had never posted the video to her account and said the comments were made three weeks before San Francisco issued shelter-un-place orders
‘To everyone: We should come to Chinatown,’ Pelosi said in the video, urging people not to stop bringing business to that neighborhood of San Francisco. ‘Precautions have been taken by our city. We know that there’s a concern about tourism, traveling all throughout the world,’ she continued. ‘But we think it’s very safe to be in Chinatown and hope that others will come’
Trump often referred to coronavirus as the ‘Chinese virus’ last month, but let up on using the phrase after reports emerged of increased violence towards Asian Americans
‘To everyone: We should come to Chinatown,’ Pelosi said in the video, urging people not to stop bringing business to that neighborhood of San Francisco.
‘Precautions have been taken by our city. We know that there’s a concern about tourism, traveling all throughout the world,’ she continued. ‘But we think it’s very safe to be in Chinatown and hope that others will come.’
San Francisco was the first U.S. city to issue shelter-in-place orders last month.
Kirk provided no proof that Pelosi had posted the video or a timeline of when the comments were made – although it is clear from the video clip that it was aired by a local television affiliate.
Pelosi’s Deputy Chief of Staff Drew Hammill asserted Trump and Kirk’s claim about the video is incorrect, and said that the video was actually taken several weeks before San Francisco ordered citizens go on lockdown.
‘Fact check: We never posted this video. It’s obviously local TV coverage of the Speaker visiting Chinatown in San Francisco three weeks prior to the shelter-in-place order,’ Hammill tweeted.
Trump also bashed the House Speaker in a Thursday morning tweet, claiming she is a ‘weak and pathetic puppet’ after she issued a letter to her Democratic colleagues railing against the president for his response to the coronavirus crisis.
‘Crazy ‘Nancy Pelosi, you are a weak person. You are a poor leader. You are the reason America hates career politicians, like yourself.’ @seanhannity,’ Trump tweeted, adding a few edits to a quote from Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
‘She is totally incompetent & controlled by the Radical Left, a weak and pathetic puppet. Come back to Washington and do your job!’ the president continued.
As the House is recessed, Pelosi is spending lockdown at her home in San Francisco and joining network television interviews from her kitchen and dining room via video call and holds her weekly press briefings over the phone.
The House Speaker excoriated Trump in a ‘dear colleague’ letter sent to Democrats Tuesday.
In the letter she blamed the current situation in the U.S. in the midst of the coronavirus crisis on the president and accused him of lying to the American people.
Trump also said Thursday that Nancy Pelosi is a ‘weak and pathetic puppet’ as she and Democrats continue to block additional assistance. ‘She is totally incompetent & controlled by the Radical Left… Come back to Washington and do your job!’ Trump tweeted
The president’s comments came after Pelosi released a dear colleague letter to Democrats on Tuesday claiming Trump lies about coronavirus and insisting he is to blame for the severity of the virus in the U.S. and the economic fallout
‘In order to move forward, we must first understand the truth of what has put us in this position,’ the House Speaker wrote before diving into a series of problems she blames on Trump.
‘The truth is that Donald Trump told his most loyal followers that the pandemic was a hoax and that it would magically disappear, thus endangering lives and paving the way for economic disaster,’ she listed, insisting he ignored warnings of the coronavirus threat earlier this year.
Pelosi also laid out in the letter that she believes Trump’s presidential actions are the reason coronavirus hit the U.S. as hard as it has and caused so much economic disaster and financial hardships for Americans.
‘Donald Trump dismantled the infrastructure handed to him which was meant to plan for and overcome a pandemic, resulting in unnecessary deaths and economic disaster,’ she wrote.
‘The truth is a weak person, a poor leader, takes no responsibility. A weak person blames others,’ the California Democrat continued.
Democrats were able to block a measure last week from Republicans requesting unanimous consent for a $250 billion expansion of the payment protection program (PPP) for small businesses to avoid stuttering and keep their employees on the payroll.
Pelosi claimed her Party would not allow the interim provision to pass because it did not include a list of measures Democrats demanded be included.
Although Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the other measures should be included in part two of the CARES Act, Democratic leadership said other provisions are more urgent than the PPP and require immediate attention.
Pelosi asserts one of these necessary additions is an expansion of testing availability.
‘The President continues to obfuscate, saying we have more testing than any other country in the world. The truth is that only 1 percent of Americans have been tested,’ she wrote. ‘The failure to test is central to the spread of the virus and its impact on those most vulnerable in our society. The failure to test is dangerous and deadly, and without testing, we cannot resume our lives.’
As of Thursday morning the death toll in the U.S. from coronavirus surpassed 30,000 and there are nearly 630,000 confirmed cases, which is more than any other country has reported.
In California alone there are nearly 27,000 confirmed cases and 880 people died in the state after contracting COVID-19.
Experts analyses show the pandemic likely reached its peak in the U.S. this week, but some claim there could be a resurgence of the virus in the fall or winter.
Pelosi is also demanding that the next bill include billions for an increase in production and distribution of testing sets, masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare centers, hospitals and healthcare professionals.
In March, Trump signed the CARES Act – a $2.2 trillion bill that allocated money, loans and grants to several industries, government institutions, small businesses and directly to the American people – in the form of $1,200 direct checks.
Democrats claim they need another overarching bill like the one passed at the end of March.
Trump hold nearly-daily press briefings at the White House with his coronavirus task force. Pelosi accused Trump of downplaying the threat of the virus earlier on this year and calling it a ‘hoax’
The House Speaker engages in virtual interview nearly every day to run counter-programming to Trump’s White House briefings
Due to the coronavirus crisis the once record-breaking economy has spiraled and unemployment claims reached an all-time-high this month after more than 15 million people filed for the benefits in three weeks.
Pelosi blames the economic repercussions of the virus on Trump and his handling of the outbreak from the start.
‘The truth is because of an incompetent reaction to this health crisis, the strong economy handed to Donald Trump is now a disaster, causing the suffering of countless Americans and endangering lives,’ she said.
Trump holds nearly-daily press briefings with his White House coronavirus task force, which are nationally televised and attended by a controlled number of members of the media.
Pelosi has done her best to run counter-programming to the president’s seemingly limitless air-time by appearing in virtual interviews with networks almost every day – sometimes from her home in San Francisco.