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Newseeek: Could Trump be criminally liable for his deadly mishandling of the coronavirus?
https://www.newsweek.com/could-trump-criminally-liable-his-deadly-mishandling-coronavirus-opinion-1498146Many U.S. deaths—now over 28,000—and much economic damage could have been avoided if Trump hadn't crippled U.S. biodefense capabilities. Obama officials said they presented incoming Trump officials with a pandemic simulation, but Trump's team ignored it, "convinced they knew more than the outgoing administration."
Trump also ignored multiple warnings that cutting pandemic defense would expose Americans to the "significant probability of a large and lethal modern-day pandemic," that that U.S. capacity wasn't "sufficient to fight many types of infectious disease outbreaks," and that unless he invested more in biodefense now, we'd pay much more in "human and economic costs" later.
Undeterred, Trump's fiscal year 2019 White House budget proposal cut funding for the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and a $30 million emergency response fund.
Trump fired Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert, who advocated strengthening our pandemic defenses. Trump's National Security Council adviser disbanded our entire pandemic response team and never replaced it. When the World Health Organization (WHO) urged global testing and sent test kits to 120 countries, the CDC failed to request any.
The results were catastrophic. Large-scale testing needed to identify hot spots and implement early quarantines never materialized. The U.S. suffered acute shortages of test kits, and many of the kits the CDC did produce were unusable. The CDC briefly posted 472 test results on its website, then removed the figure because it paled in comparison to other countries.
Ventilators and the drugs needed to use them, as well as nasal swabs for testing, are running out. Protective equipment is so scarce, health care professionals have to wash and reuse masks. States compete against one another and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for supplies, bidding up prices, because the federal government failed to centralize procurement and distribution.
In 2009, H1N1 influenza triggered the largest federal distribution ever, sending respirators, protective masks, gowns and gloves to the states. Yet Trump told governors that the federal government is "not a shipping clerk" and that states should procure their own supplies. That's an unconscionable abdication of responsibility. The Defense Production Act authorizes the president to force production and distribution of materials needed in a crisis precisely because it's a federal responsibility.
For over seven decades, the U.S. played a leading global role in fighting infectious diseases, including Ebola, tuberculosis, malaria, yellow fever, AIDS, avian influenza and Zika, as well as in developing the 67-member Global Health Security Agenda. Trump disgracefully abandoned that leadership role.
. . .
The definition of involuntary or negligent manslaughter encompasses unintended killing through negligence, as well as knowledge that one's actions pose a risk to life. Irresponsible actions or failure to perform a duty can constitute the crime. Do Trump's actions and omissions rise to that level? Ask the families of the 28,000 Americans and counting who have died.
Trump also ignored multiple warnings that cutting pandemic defense would expose Americans to the "significant probability of a large and lethal modern-day pandemic," that that U.S. capacity wasn't "sufficient to fight many types of infectious disease outbreaks," and that unless he invested more in biodefense now, we'd pay much more in "human and economic costs" later.
Undeterred, Trump's fiscal year 2019 White House budget proposal cut funding for the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and a $30 million emergency response fund.
Trump fired Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert, who advocated strengthening our pandemic defenses. Trump's National Security Council adviser disbanded our entire pandemic response team and never replaced it. When the World Health Organization (WHO) urged global testing and sent test kits to 120 countries, the CDC failed to request any.
The results were catastrophic. Large-scale testing needed to identify hot spots and implement early quarantines never materialized. The U.S. suffered acute shortages of test kits, and many of the kits the CDC did produce were unusable. The CDC briefly posted 472 test results on its website, then removed the figure because it paled in comparison to other countries.
Ventilators and the drugs needed to use them, as well as nasal swabs for testing, are running out. Protective equipment is so scarce, health care professionals have to wash and reuse masks. States compete against one another and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for supplies, bidding up prices, because the federal government failed to centralize procurement and distribution.
In 2009, H1N1 influenza triggered the largest federal distribution ever, sending respirators, protective masks, gowns and gloves to the states. Yet Trump told governors that the federal government is "not a shipping clerk" and that states should procure their own supplies. That's an unconscionable abdication of responsibility. The Defense Production Act authorizes the president to force production and distribution of materials needed in a crisis precisely because it's a federal responsibility.
For over seven decades, the U.S. played a leading global role in fighting infectious diseases, including Ebola, tuberculosis, malaria, yellow fever, AIDS, avian influenza and Zika, as well as in developing the 67-member Global Health Security Agenda. Trump disgracefully abandoned that leadership role.
. . .
The definition of involuntary or negligent manslaughter encompasses unintended killing through negligence, as well as knowledge that one's actions pose a risk to life. Irresponsible actions or failure to perform a duty can constitute the crime. Do Trump's actions and omissions rise to that level? Ask the families of the 28,000 Americans and counting who have died.
18 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Proof of treason is right there in his own actions.
Whether he can be convicted of manslaughter remains to be seen.
But on the charge of treason, I'm good!
