Olivia Troye, a former top aide to Vice President Mike Pence who announced last week that she plans to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, recounted what she viewed as President Trump’s “frightening” COVID-19 response during an interview set to air on NBC Nightly News on Tuesday.
In a preview of her interview that aired during the “TODAY” show, Troye said that during her eight months serving on the White House coronavirus task force, the President was more concerned about his “personal agenda” than protecting Americans against the infectious disease.
“He was really focused on public image, messaging and it was really more about, you know, his personal agenda than really the agenda that the task force had at hand, which was how are we going to save and protect Americans,” Troye said.
Troye, who left the Trump administration last month after serving as Pence’s homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, went on to rip Trump for his “frightening” COVID-19 response when asked about the President’s remark in early this year that the novel coronavirus will someday “disappear.”
Troye reiterated her claim that Trump expressed that the COVID-19 pandemic might be a positive development because he no longer had to shake hands with his supporters, who she said he characterized as “disgusting.”
“I can’t imagine how any, honestly, normal human being would ever say that out loud in the middle of a pandemic,” Troye said.
Troye also criticized the President for hyping unfounded treatments for COVID-19, such as hydroxychloroquine, before claiming that Trump “undermined” the work of the White House coronavirus task force.
“I felt that I needed to tell the truth about what was happening and what we were dealing with internally, especially with the President who was undermining the work that was going on in the task force,” Troye said. “I just felt that it mattered more than ever.”
Although both Trump and Pence dismissed Troye’s account of her experience on the coronavirus task force, Troye said that she still respects the vice president but that he was put in an “impossible situation” regarding the President’s handling of COVID-19.
Watch Troye’s remarks below:
It’s interesting to find out what the “bottom line” number is on the Rep side. What percentage of the Rep vote can you get no matter who you are as a person or candidate.
In Alabama it was just short of 50% as we saw in 18. I’m guessing the national number is around 40%.
The GOP default percentage is much higher than it should be…but Ms.Troye’s words will net us some votes.
That was the general reaction we saw, days ago, from her TV appearances, before the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Let me add here this incredible social item: Trump is so evil, crooked, corrupt and incompetent that what Ms. Troye is saying would remove from Office most presidents before Trump.
It shows that even someone who is willing to work for Pence can have some connection to reality.
Until she expressed her “respect” for him. There is absolutely nothing to respect about susPence.
“My former boss was a fanatical right-wing Jesus freak who would drive over a group of schoolchildren if Spanky told him to, but I still respect him!”