Trump dodges question about whether he asked for coronavirus testing to slow down

Did President Trump actually ask for COVID-19 testing to slow down like he recently said at his rally? He's dodging that question.

At his first rally in months over the weekend, Trump raised eyebrows when he said he asked for COVID-19 testing to be slowed down, claiming that testing is "a double-edged sword" since it leads to more coronavirus cases being confirmed.

"When you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people, you're going to find more cases," he said. "So I said to my people, 'Slow the testing down, please.'" The White House subsequently claimed Trump wasn't being serious, with White House trade adviser Peter Navarro saying on Sunday the comment "was tongue in cheek", and another White House official telling Reuters, "He was obviously kidding."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But in an interview on Monday, Trump was directly asked whether he requested testing to slow down, and he wouldn't say.

"If it did slow down, frankly, I think we're way ahead of ourselves," Trump said, going on to claim the U.S. has actually "done too good a job" on testing but failing to say whether his comment was intended as a joke. Brendan Morrow