White House trade adviser Peter Navarro threw the Centers for Disease Control under the bus on Sunday regarding the overall lack of coronavirus testing early on in the pandemic. Appearing on NBC News’ Meet the Press, Navarro was pressed by host Chuck Todd on President Donald Trump’s apparent issues with the CDC. “It does seem as if the initial guidelines, they didn’t want them put out. They’ve put down very limited guidelines with more detailed ones coming later. CDC hasn’t been able to give a briefing now in over a month. Does the president have confidence in the CDC?” Todd wondered aloud.
“Early on in this crisis, the CDC, which really had the most trusted brand around the world in this space, really let the country down with the testing,” Navarro responded. “Because not only did they keep the testing within the bureaucracy, they had a bad test. And that did set us back.” The Trump administration has publicly celebrated its coronavirus testing push in recent days, with the president going so far as to say they’ve “prevailed” on testing.
