Gov. Larry Hogan responds to criticism from Trump over testing: ‘I think he got confused’
Gov. Hogan reacts to criticism from Trump on state testing: ‘I have no idea what he was upset about’
Republican Gov. Larry Hogan reacts on ‘America’s Newsroom’ to President Trump suggesting he doesn’t understand the capacity of federal testing in his state
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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said Tuesday he was not sure why President Trump was upset with him about federal coronavirus testing capacity because his state had done as the president instructed.
In an interview on «America’s Newsroom» with host Sandra Smith, Hogan said he had a great call on Monday with White House Coronavirus Task Force leader Vice President Mike Pence and the president’s team, and expressed his gratitude for all they had done to help in the fight against the deadly virus.
But there was an apparent disconnect between that «completely positive call» and President Trump admonishing Hogan’s response.
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Hogan and his wife Yumi Hogan – a Korean immigrant who speaks fluent Korean – took the president’s message from a few days earlier that state and local government needed to step up their efforts to secure medical supplies. The pair were able to successfully negotiate with suppliers in South Korea and obtained 500,000 test kits for their state.
Hogan later told The New York Times the process «should not have been this difficult.»
But President Trump went on the defensive, telling reporters the federal government has done a «really good job in testing.»
«Governor Hogan: he didn’t really know. It was very obvious to any of those listening on the call today…he really didn’t know about the federal laboratories,» President Trump accused.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan talks about the state’s response to coronavirus during a news conference on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in Annapolis, Md. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)
«They put out a list of the labs that are in our state and said, ‘These are your state labs. You should be utilizing them.’ We already knew where the state labs were in our state, but the list that they gave us was mostly federal labs, which we have been attempting to use for more than a month now,» Hogan remarked.
«So we got a commitment yesterday from the vice president and from the president that we can now use federal labs — which is terrific. But the president was not on the call and, somehow, I think he got confused in the press conference,» he pointed out.
«I’m really not sure what he was upset about,» Hogan told Smith. «We did what he told us to do which was go out and get our testing. And, we had a great call with his entire team yesterday and I was leading the call on behalf of all the governors.»
«Did you reach out to them after he said that?» asked the «Newsroom» host.
«No, I haven’t,» Hogan replied. «But I know he’s meeting with Governor Cuomo today who is my vice chairman [of the National Governors Association] and hopefully they will get a chance to talk and maybe I’ll talk with them.»
«I think the vice president corrected him yesterday in the press conference,» he noted. «It was a great call. I don’t think he was on the call [and] didn’t understand what the discussion was about. But, I have no idea what he was upset about.»
Although Maryland is not one of the top 10 states with the most cases, Hogan said the curve is trending upward once more, necessitating testing if the Old Line State wants to reopen its economy in full.
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President Trump’s «Opening Up America Again» plan outlines that states must have 14 days of downward trending numbers in order to do so.
«We flattened the curve. We’ve lengthened the curve. But, now we are starting to go up,» he clarified. «So, we are now 25,000 cases today in the region — over 1,000 deaths. And so, under the president’s own plan, we can’t reopen yet.»
