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Press Briefing by Kayleigh McEnany; July 16, 2020
That's correct, Chanel; Obama stopped testing entirely.
PRESS BRIEFINGS
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany | 7/16/2020
Issued on: July 16, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
2:30 P.M. EDT
MS. MCENANY: Hello, everyone. This afternoon, President Trump will deliver remarks on rolling back regulations to help all Americans. Deregulation has been a top priority of this President. The President reversed the disastrous over-regulation of the Obama-Biden administration. Under President Trump, seven deregulatory actions have been taken for every one new regulation. This amounted to $50 billion in regulatory cost savings.
{snip}
So the President is focused on COVID. It’s a top priority. He is focused on the violence in the streets. He’s doing a lot of things at once, and that’s the great thing about the Trump administration.
Yes.
Q But just quickly, when is the last time he attended a task force briefing?
MS. MCENANY: The President is briefed on coronavirus each and every day.
{snip}
Yes, Weijia.
Q Hi, Kayleigh. Thank you. To follow up on that: It’s not just about the quantity of testing; it’s about the quality of testing. So is the administration doing anything specifically to make all the tests out there return quicker results — because, you know, a lot of health experts are worried that when people have to wait seven days or longer, they’re out and they’re spreading the disease unknowingly.
MS. MCENANY: So, as I noted, there are several different types of tests. There’s the Abbott rapid response test. There are other tests that take longer. Dr. Birx and Admiral Giroir are constantly out there advising on testing and how to process these tests.
Ultimately, we can give the states the supplies, but they’ve got to use them in the best way possible to get results as quickly as possible. But rest assured, our team is fully engaged, from Admiral Giroir to Dr. Birx and others.
And Admiral Giroir shared with me we have 552 sites testing in America in 48 states and the District of Columbia; 65 percent of these sites are located in counties with moderate to high social vulnerability; and 201 additional sites will be going live this week. And that’s on top of the 1,300 federally qualified health centers that are out there testing as well, and the commercial testing sites at CVS.
Q I have another question, Kayleigh.
MS. MCENANY: Yes.
Q In an interview with CBS News, President Trump said, “More white people are killed,” as an answer to why black people are still being killed by police officers. But by population percentages, black people are about three times more likely than white people to die in a police encounter. If the President won’t even acknowledge that, how can he fix the problem?
MS. MCENANY: The President has routinely acknowledged and expressed the absolute atrocity of the case of George Floyd, and his heart goes out to that family still. He was noting a fact that there were — when you look at unarmed killings with police interactions in this country, that you had 9 unarmed black individuals who were fatally shot and 19 unarmed white individuals. That’s down from 38 and 32, respectively, in 2015. So numbers have actually come down since the Obama administration. He was making that point.
But one point he wants to strongly make is this: that black men and women who die of homicide, they’re likely to die of homicide at eight times greater than that of white individuals and Hispanics combined. That’s the rate combined. So that’s an extraordinary thing that we want to look at.
I’ve listed for you the names of these kids who have died across this country. It is unacceptable, and under this President, he’ll take action. And the derelict mayor of Chicago should step up and ask for federal help because she’s doing a very poor job at securing her streets.
Q I was talking about —
MS. MCENANY: Yes.
Q — people who are dying at the hands of police officers.
MS. MCENANY: Yes.
Q Is the President considering travel bans for members of the Communist Party to enter the U.S.? And is he concerned about escalation of tensions with China?
MS. MCENANY: So I have no announcements on that front, but rest assured we keep every option on the table with regard to China.
[SNIP]
Yes. Jeff.
Q Thanks, Kayleigh. Does the White House have a reaction to the hacking of Twitter last night? And do you have any broader concerns or does the President have any broader concerns about using that platform to issue not only his own opinions, but official policy pronouncements, given its apparent vulnerability to hacking?
MS. MCENANY: Yes, so I spoke with Dan Scavino before coming out here — my team did. And Dan has been — and his team and digital have been in constant contact with Twitter over the last 18 hours to keep Twitter secure — the President’s Twitter feed. The President will remain on Twitter, but his account was secure and not jeopardized during these attacks.
Q Okay. And just one follow-up to Weijia’s question. I guess I didn’t follow the data that you were just referring to. Are you saying that the President did have data to back up his claim that more white people are killed by police officers than black people?
MS. MCENANY: Yeah, and I’ve already read out that data to you.
Q I don’t think we followed it. It didn’t —
MS. MCENANY: I’ve already read out that data to you, and you can go fact-check on the Washington Post.
Yes.
Q Kayleigh, two quick questions. First, Congressman Steve Watkins of Kansas has been charged with three felonies in a voter fraud case. Obviously, the President campaigned with him in 2018, and he’s repeatedly expressed concern with voter fraud. So does he have a reaction to that?
MS. MCENANY: That’s the first I’m hearing of that. I haven’t spoken to the President of it. He does have very real concerns about voter fraud, and he’s mentioned several of those. And there’s yet more information that there is rampant voter fraud when you have mass mail-in voting. In 2016, as the President has noted, about 1 percent of absentee ballots nationwide were thrown out, and it could be much higher this year, as many people vote by mail for the first time. That’s one of the flaws with mass mail-in voting.
But beyond that, we’ve seen a number of reports out of New Jersey that found a U.S. Postal Service vehicle that may have been carrying mail-in ballots that were — that was caught on fire, this truck. This was recent. Also, in the New Jersey Star-Ledger, on June 22nd — this was very striking — 500 to 700 Republicans received ballots with all Democrat candidates. They were erroneous mail-in ballots that had been voided and then reissued. And the slate of candidates on these ballots was all Democrat, from Joe Biden down to dogcatcher. And these were supposed to be Republican ballots.
{snip}
Q A quick second question for you. You were saying earlier that the President is very concerned about local officials who are not taking actions about, you know, deaths in your cities. You also said he was appalled by what happened to George Floyd.
In March, a 26-year-old black woman named Breonna Taylor was killed while sleeping in her home. The three officers involved in that case in Kentucky have not been arrested or fired. Is the President monitoring that case at all? And does he want to see justice for Breonna Taylor?
MS. MCENANY: Yeah, I won’t weigh into that other than to say I’d refer you to the DOJ, who takes federal action where necessary, where the facts merit. But our hearts grieve for Breonna Taylor’s family.
{snip}
Q Yes, two — a question that flows from two events that we saw recently that we wouldn’t have seen in previous White Houses. The first was the campaign meeting in the Cabinet Room last month, and then the political speech in the Rose Garden this week. Can you talk about your understanding of what the White House policy is for this White House, as far as politics? Is there any place in the White House where you think politics is inappropriate? And where do you — where do you draw the line?
MS. MCENANY: We act in accordance with the Hatch Act. It’s well established that the President and Vice President are not subject to the Hatch Act. It says this much in the Hatch Act. It says that the Hatch Act applies to executive branch employees, which is defined in the Hatch Act as “employee,” meaning any individual other than the President and the Vice President.
So his speech in the Rose Garden was entirely —
Q That’s not my question. The Hatch Act has nothing to do with it.
MS. MCENANY: — appropriate.
Owen.
Q The Hatch Act has nothing to do with this, though.
MS. MCENANY: What? It has everything to do with this. Go read the Hatch Act. That’s what you’re alleging that is problematic with the President.
Q Well, no, I’m just — I’m stating no —
MS. MCENANY: But what your real problem was, was the fact that the President gave a very good, powerful speech from the Rose Garden.
Owen.
Q Well, you talked about earlier, with school districts — what we’re seeing is more school districts — at least in Virginia, for example, last night — deciding to go online only. What does the President say to parents out there who are now going, “Okay, what do I do with my kids?”
MS. MCENANY: You know, the President has said unmistakably that he wants schools to open. And I was just in the Oval talking to him about that. And when he says open, he means open in full — kids being able to attend each and every day at their school.
The science should not stand in the way of this. And as Dr. Scott Atlas said — I thought this was a good quote — “Of course, we can [do it]. Everyone else in the…Western world, our peer nations are doing it. We are the outlier here.”
The science is very clear on this, that — you know, for instance, you look at the JAMA Pediatrics study of 46 pediatric hospitals in North America that said the risk of critical illness from COVID is far less for children than that of seasonal flu.
The science is on our side here, and we encourage for localities and states to just simply follow the science, open our schools. It’s very damaging to our children: There is a lack of reporting of abuse; there’s mental depressions that are not addressed; suicidal ideations that are not addressed when students are not in school. Our schools are extremely important, they’re essential, and they must reopen.
{snip}
Yes, Chanel.
Q Thanks, Kayleigh. On the CDC — on the movement of data going straight from CDC to HHS now: Understanding that HHS needs access to real-time data, was there also any concern whatsoever undergirding this decision regarding CDC’s possible manipulation of data? There was some reports coming out of Florida — certain states were coming out and saying mid-level CDC reports were not necessarily accurate. And so was that — did that have any effect in this decision to send data straight to HHS?
MS. MCENANY: No, the intent for this decision — and I talked extensively today with Dr. Birx, with Secretary Azar, and with Dr. Redfield about this. The intent of this is: We need to make sure that there is daily data that is being given to Dr. Birx and others who are running point on a lot of our actions with remdesivir and identifying hotspots.
And I would point out — and I just want to explain this because I think there’s been some confusion in the press — that there are two methods of data collection. One is the National Healthcare Safety Network, and this is a CDC system. And this is where hospitals voluntarily report their data, and about 81 percent of hospitals were reporting their data. So we don’t need 81 percent of hospitals reporting data; we need 100 percent of hospitals reporting data because it is critical that Dr. Birx and others receive the daily admissions, ICU use, and PPE numbers. And when you’re only getting 81 percent of hospital data, that means you’ve got 19 percent of hospitals that were unaware of their needs.
So what happened is we also have a second method of using — of tracking this data, and it’s the TeleTracker database, and this is an HHS system. And this was initially used for purposes of provider relief funding, and we asked hospitals to tell us about their COVID admissions so that we could identify possible hotspots.
And as it turns out, this data ended up being more complete, more up-to-date with information. And so, ensuring that hospitals are reporting into this system, where we’re getting more complete data, was the reason that HHS has had this transition where they’ve asked hospitals to transition reporting to the TeleTractor [sic] — TeleTracker system.
It’s important, especially with remdesivir distribution, that we know exactly where the needs are so we can surge them. So this —
Q And the CDC will still have access to this data (inaudible)?
MS. MCENANY: Yes, that’s right. So I did confirm that with Dr. Redfield, that this is completely open-source data available to the CDC. Secretary Azar says we insist that they use it. And no one — and Dr. Redfield confirmed this — no one is taking access or data away from the CDC. And that data is routinely published so that the American people are fully informed.
Yes.
Q So I wanted to follow on that, briefly. There’s been some complaints, particularly among independent modelers who are using the CDC data that was updated daily to, sort of, put out their public model — some of which the White House has relied on — that now those dashboards have been taken down. So I’m wondering if the administration would, sort of, commit to making the broader database a bit more available to the public.
MS. MCENANY: The CDC database is the public data that’s been out there. It’ll continue to be public. It should be public. And this is all about getting more data out there, not less data, and ensuring, in particular, that our doctors get that daily data.
Q And —
MS. MCENANY: And one thing that I’d also like to point out for everyone is just, with regard to testing, we’ve done more than 42 million tests, as I noted. The second-highest number is 12 million from India. We’re leading the world in testing. And it’s a very stark contrast — and the President mentioned this yesterday, so I just wanted to put some — some additional information out there. It’s actually CBS reporting that, in 2009, under Obama-Biden, quote — and this is CBS reporting — “CDC abruptly advised states to stop testing for H1N1 flu, and stopped counting individual cases.”
So while this President surged testing, under the Obama administration, they stopped testing entirely. And Ron Klain, Vice President Biden’s former Chief of Staff said this: It is “purely a fortuity that [H1N1] isn’t one of the great mass casualty events in American history. It had nothing to do with us doing anything right.” This is former VP Biden’s Chief of Staff. “It just had to do with luck.”
Contrary to that, this President led the world in testing; led the world in ventilators — redistributing ventilators for therapeutics; 13 vaccine candidates — one going into phase three clinical trial. This response has been extraordinary and historic. We didn’t pause testing; the Obama-Biden administration did, and that was a shameful decision.
Thank you.
END
2:55 P.M. EDT
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany | 7/16/2020
Issued on: July 16, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
2:30 P.M. EDT
MS. MCENANY: Hello, everyone. This afternoon, President Trump will deliver remarks on rolling back regulations to help all Americans. Deregulation has been a top priority of this President. The President reversed the disastrous over-regulation of the Obama-Biden administration. Under President Trump, seven deregulatory actions have been taken for every one new regulation. This amounted to $50 billion in regulatory cost savings.
{snip}
So the President is focused on COVID. It’s a top priority. He is focused on the violence in the streets. He’s doing a lot of things at once, and that’s the great thing about the Trump administration.
Yes.
Q But just quickly, when is the last time he attended a task force briefing?
MS. MCENANY: The President is briefed on coronavirus each and every day.
{snip}
Yes, Weijia.
Q Hi, Kayleigh. Thank you. To follow up on that: It’s not just about the quantity of testing; it’s about the quality of testing. So is the administration doing anything specifically to make all the tests out there return quicker results — because, you know, a lot of health experts are worried that when people have to wait seven days or longer, they’re out and they’re spreading the disease unknowingly.
MS. MCENANY: So, as I noted, there are several different types of tests. There’s the Abbott rapid response test. There are other tests that take longer. Dr. Birx and Admiral Giroir are constantly out there advising on testing and how to process these tests.
Ultimately, we can give the states the supplies, but they’ve got to use them in the best way possible to get results as quickly as possible. But rest assured, our team is fully engaged, from Admiral Giroir to Dr. Birx and others.
And Admiral Giroir shared with me we have 552 sites testing in America in 48 states and the District of Columbia; 65 percent of these sites are located in counties with moderate to high social vulnerability; and 201 additional sites will be going live this week. And that’s on top of the 1,300 federally qualified health centers that are out there testing as well, and the commercial testing sites at CVS.
Q I have another question, Kayleigh.
MS. MCENANY: Yes.
Q In an interview with CBS News, President Trump said, “More white people are killed,” as an answer to why black people are still being killed by police officers. But by population percentages, black people are about three times more likely than white people to die in a police encounter. If the President won’t even acknowledge that, how can he fix the problem?
MS. MCENANY: The President has routinely acknowledged and expressed the absolute atrocity of the case of George Floyd, and his heart goes out to that family still. He was noting a fact that there were — when you look at unarmed killings with police interactions in this country, that you had 9 unarmed black individuals who were fatally shot and 19 unarmed white individuals. That’s down from 38 and 32, respectively, in 2015. So numbers have actually come down since the Obama administration. He was making that point.
But one point he wants to strongly make is this: that black men and women who die of homicide, they’re likely to die of homicide at eight times greater than that of white individuals and Hispanics combined. That’s the rate combined. So that’s an extraordinary thing that we want to look at.
I’ve listed for you the names of these kids who have died across this country. It is unacceptable, and under this President, he’ll take action. And the derelict mayor of Chicago should step up and ask for federal help because she’s doing a very poor job at securing her streets.
Q I was talking about —
MS. MCENANY: Yes.
Q — people who are dying at the hands of police officers.
MS. MCENANY: Yes.
Q Is the President considering travel bans for members of the Communist Party to enter the U.S.? And is he concerned about escalation of tensions with China?
MS. MCENANY: So I have no announcements on that front, but rest assured we keep every option on the table with regard to China.
[SNIP]
Yes. Jeff.
Q Thanks, Kayleigh. Does the White House have a reaction to the hacking of Twitter last night? And do you have any broader concerns or does the President have any broader concerns about using that platform to issue not only his own opinions, but official policy pronouncements, given its apparent vulnerability to hacking?
MS. MCENANY: Yes, so I spoke with Dan Scavino before coming out here — my team did. And Dan has been — and his team and digital have been in constant contact with Twitter over the last 18 hours to keep Twitter secure — the President’s Twitter feed. The President will remain on Twitter, but his account was secure and not jeopardized during these attacks.
Q Okay. And just one follow-up to Weijia’s question. I guess I didn’t follow the data that you were just referring to. Are you saying that the President did have data to back up his claim that more white people are killed by police officers than black people?
MS. MCENANY: Yeah, and I’ve already read out that data to you.
Q I don’t think we followed it. It didn’t —
MS. MCENANY: I’ve already read out that data to you, and you can go fact-check on the Washington Post.
Yes.
Q Kayleigh, two quick questions. First, Congressman Steve Watkins of Kansas has been charged with three felonies in a voter fraud case. Obviously, the President campaigned with him in 2018, and he’s repeatedly expressed concern with voter fraud. So does he have a reaction to that?
MS. MCENANY: That’s the first I’m hearing of that. I haven’t spoken to the President of it. He does have very real concerns about voter fraud, and he’s mentioned several of those. And there’s yet more information that there is rampant voter fraud when you have mass mail-in voting. In 2016, as the President has noted, about 1 percent of absentee ballots nationwide were thrown out, and it could be much higher this year, as many people vote by mail for the first time. That’s one of the flaws with mass mail-in voting.
But beyond that, we’ve seen a number of reports out of New Jersey that found a U.S. Postal Service vehicle that may have been carrying mail-in ballots that were — that was caught on fire, this truck. This was recent. Also, in the New Jersey Star-Ledger, on June 22nd — this was very striking — 500 to 700 Republicans received ballots with all Democrat candidates. They were erroneous mail-in ballots that had been voided and then reissued. And the slate of candidates on these ballots was all Democrat, from Joe Biden down to dogcatcher. And these were supposed to be Republican ballots.
{snip}
Q A quick second question for you. You were saying earlier that the President is very concerned about local officials who are not taking actions about, you know, deaths in your cities. You also said he was appalled by what happened to George Floyd.
In March, a 26-year-old black woman named Breonna Taylor was killed while sleeping in her home. The three officers involved in that case in Kentucky have not been arrested or fired. Is the President monitoring that case at all? And does he want to see justice for Breonna Taylor?
MS. MCENANY: Yeah, I won’t weigh into that other than to say I’d refer you to the DOJ, who takes federal action where necessary, where the facts merit. But our hearts grieve for Breonna Taylor’s family.
{snip}
Q Yes, two — a question that flows from two events that we saw recently that we wouldn’t have seen in previous White Houses. The first was the campaign meeting in the Cabinet Room last month, and then the political speech in the Rose Garden this week. Can you talk about your understanding of what the White House policy is for this White House, as far as politics? Is there any place in the White House where you think politics is inappropriate? And where do you — where do you draw the line?
MS. MCENANY: We act in accordance with the Hatch Act. It’s well established that the President and Vice President are not subject to the Hatch Act. It says this much in the Hatch Act. It says that the Hatch Act applies to executive branch employees, which is defined in the Hatch Act as “employee,” meaning any individual other than the President and the Vice President.
So his speech in the Rose Garden was entirely —
Q That’s not my question. The Hatch Act has nothing to do with it.
MS. MCENANY: — appropriate.
Owen.
Q The Hatch Act has nothing to do with this, though.
MS. MCENANY: What? It has everything to do with this. Go read the Hatch Act. That’s what you’re alleging that is problematic with the President.
Q Well, no, I’m just — I’m stating no —
MS. MCENANY: But what your real problem was, was the fact that the President gave a very good, powerful speech from the Rose Garden.
Owen.
Q Well, you talked about earlier, with school districts — what we’re seeing is more school districts — at least in Virginia, for example, last night — deciding to go online only. What does the President say to parents out there who are now going, “Okay, what do I do with my kids?”
MS. MCENANY: You know, the President has said unmistakably that he wants schools to open. And I was just in the Oval talking to him about that. And when he says open, he means open in full — kids being able to attend each and every day at their school.
The science should not stand in the way of this. And as Dr. Scott Atlas said — I thought this was a good quote — “Of course, we can [do it]. Everyone else in the…Western world, our peer nations are doing it. We are the outlier here.”
The science is very clear on this, that — you know, for instance, you look at the JAMA Pediatrics study of 46 pediatric hospitals in North America that said the risk of critical illness from COVID is far less for children than that of seasonal flu.
The science is on our side here, and we encourage for localities and states to just simply follow the science, open our schools. It’s very damaging to our children: There is a lack of reporting of abuse; there’s mental depressions that are not addressed; suicidal ideations that are not addressed when students are not in school. Our schools are extremely important, they’re essential, and they must reopen.
{snip}
Yes, Chanel.
Q Thanks, Kayleigh. On the CDC — on the movement of data going straight from CDC to HHS now: Understanding that HHS needs access to real-time data, was there also any concern whatsoever undergirding this decision regarding CDC’s possible manipulation of data? There was some reports coming out of Florida — certain states were coming out and saying mid-level CDC reports were not necessarily accurate. And so was that — did that have any effect in this decision to send data straight to HHS?
MS. MCENANY: No, the intent for this decision — and I talked extensively today with Dr. Birx, with Secretary Azar, and with Dr. Redfield about this. The intent of this is: We need to make sure that there is daily data that is being given to Dr. Birx and others who are running point on a lot of our actions with remdesivir and identifying hotspots.
And I would point out — and I just want to explain this because I think there’s been some confusion in the press — that there are two methods of data collection. One is the National Healthcare Safety Network, and this is a CDC system. And this is where hospitals voluntarily report their data, and about 81 percent of hospitals were reporting their data. So we don’t need 81 percent of hospitals reporting data; we need 100 percent of hospitals reporting data because it is critical that Dr. Birx and others receive the daily admissions, ICU use, and PPE numbers. And when you’re only getting 81 percent of hospital data, that means you’ve got 19 percent of hospitals that were unaware of their needs.
So what happened is we also have a second method of using — of tracking this data, and it’s the TeleTracker database, and this is an HHS system. And this was initially used for purposes of provider relief funding, and we asked hospitals to tell us about their COVID admissions so that we could identify possible hotspots.
And as it turns out, this data ended up being more complete, more up-to-date with information. And so, ensuring that hospitals are reporting into this system, where we’re getting more complete data, was the reason that HHS has had this transition where they’ve asked hospitals to transition reporting to the TeleTractor [sic] — TeleTracker system.
It’s important, especially with remdesivir distribution, that we know exactly where the needs are so we can surge them. So this —
Q And the CDC will still have access to this data (inaudible)?
MS. MCENANY: Yes, that’s right. So I did confirm that with Dr. Redfield, that this is completely open-source data available to the CDC. Secretary Azar says we insist that they use it. And no one — and Dr. Redfield confirmed this — no one is taking access or data away from the CDC. And that data is routinely published so that the American people are fully informed.
Yes.
Q So I wanted to follow on that, briefly. There’s been some complaints, particularly among independent modelers who are using the CDC data that was updated daily to, sort of, put out their public model — some of which the White House has relied on — that now those dashboards have been taken down. So I’m wondering if the administration would, sort of, commit to making the broader database a bit more available to the public.
MS. MCENANY: The CDC database is the public data that’s been out there. It’ll continue to be public. It should be public. And this is all about getting more data out there, not less data, and ensuring, in particular, that our doctors get that daily data.
Q And —
MS. MCENANY: And one thing that I’d also like to point out for everyone is just, with regard to testing, we’ve done more than 42 million tests, as I noted. The second-highest number is 12 million from India. We’re leading the world in testing. And it’s a very stark contrast — and the President mentioned this yesterday, so I just wanted to put some — some additional information out there. It’s actually CBS reporting that, in 2009, under Obama-Biden, quote — and this is CBS reporting — “CDC abruptly advised states to stop testing for H1N1 flu, and stopped counting individual cases.”
So while this President surged testing, under the Obama administration, they stopped testing entirely. And Ron Klain, Vice President Biden’s former Chief of Staff said this: It is “purely a fortuity that [H1N1] isn’t one of the great mass casualty events in American history. It had nothing to do with us doing anything right.” This is former VP Biden’s Chief of Staff. “It just had to do with luck.”
Contrary to that, this President led the world in testing; led the world in ventilators — redistributing ventilators for therapeutics; 13 vaccine candidates — one going into phase three clinical trial. This response has been extraordinary and historic. We didn’t pause testing; the Obama-Biden administration did, and that was a shameful decision.
Thank you.
END
2:55 P.M. EDT
1 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
