On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump said he wouldn’t have acted more swiftly in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic even if he hadn’t been impeached, blowing up Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) defense of him.
“Did it divert my attention? I think I’m getting A pluses for the way I handled myself during a phony impeachment,” Trump said during his daily press briefing on the coronavirus.
He told reporters that even though he “certainly devoted a little time thinking about it,” House Democrats’ impeachment of him in December did not affect how he dealt with the outbreak.
“I don’t think I would have done any better had I not been impeached, okay?” Trump said. “And I think that’s a great tribute to something, maybe it’s a tribute to me, but I don’t think I would have acted any differently, or I don’t think I would have acted any faster.”
Earlier that day, McConnell had defended the Trump administration’s delayed response to the virus by putting the blame on the Senate impeachment trial.
“I think it diverted the attention of the government, because everything every day was all about impeachment,” the GOP leader said.
Watch Trump below:
Trump says he would've handled COVID-19 the same even without impeachment: "I don’t think I would have done any better had I not been impeached." pic.twitter.com/pxY1BpsX6H
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) April 1, 2020
I believe you for change, but no, it’s not OK.
Right, you would have fucked it up, no matter what.
And today, April 1, 2020, is the day when we commemorate the infamy of Dotard T rumpp.
That is very dark. No judgement however.