https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/15/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-abc-town-hall/index.html
President Donald Trump
dismissed questions from Pennsylvania voters about his handling of
coronavirus, insisting he did act strongly to fight the pandemic and
again denied he downplayed the situation despite saying so on tape.
"Well
I didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it in terms
of action," he claimed, responding to a question from an undecided
voter at ABC's town hall that aired Tuesday night.
The President was asked why he hasn't supported a national mask mandate and why he doesn't wear one more often.
Trump said he does wear masks "when I have to." He also blamed Democrats and Joe Biden for not instituting a national mask mandate even though Trump is the President and not Biden. "They
said at the Democrat(ic) National Convention they're going to do a
national mandate. They never did it, because they've checked out and
they didn't do it. And ... Like Joe Biden. They said, 'We're going to a
national mandate on masks.' ... But he didn't do it. He never did it,"
Trump said.
The President also claimed that "there are a lot of people that think that masks are not good."
Asked by ABC's George Stephanopoulos for a specific example, Trump said waiters.
"They
come over, they serve you and they have a mask. And I saw it the other
day, where they were serving me and they're playing with the mask. I'm
not blaming them ... they're playing with the mask ... they're touching
it and then they're touching the plate. That can't be good," Trump said.
