Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney blamed the media on Friday for exaggerating the risk and spread of coronavirus because “they think this will bring down the president, that’s what this is all about.” Mulvaney, during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, tried to play down concerns over coronavirus, which is currently affecting the stock market and has resulted in thousands of deaths globally. He said the Trump administration took “extraordinary steps four or five weeks ago” to prevent the spread of the virus. He claimed the media was too focused on impeachment at the time and did not report sufficiently on travel restrictions and other steps the administration had taken to mitigate the virus, which he stressed was not as bad as the flu or Ebola. “The reason you’re seeing so much attention to it today is that they think this is going to be the thing that brings down the president,” he said.
