Trump coronavirus response ‘akin to war crimes’, Ayanna Pressley says

‘We find ourselves in the position of playing catch up in the midst of a pandemic’

Democratic congresswoman Ayanna Pressley has criticised president Donald Trump‘s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a virtual press conference that also included other members of ‘The Squad’ on Monday, Ms Pressley claimed that the president’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, was “akin to war crimes”.

She said that the Trump administration’s response has put the US behind where it needs to be, in order to adequately tackle the pandemic.

“As far as I’m concerned, what’s happening with this administration, it’s akin to war crimes — criminal negligence, science denials, a sluggish response,” Ms Pressley said.

“So we find ourselves in the position of playing catch up in the midst of a pandemic,” she said. “The last place that you want to be in the midst of any public health crisis and certainly not a pandemic, is working from behind.”

Ms Pressley said that the next step in stimulus relief should be to offer long-term assistance to everyone in the US, no matter their immigration status.

“The virus does not discriminate by race, income or immigration status and neither should our relief efforts,” the congresswoman for Massachusetts said.

“This hurt is unprecedented, it is being felt by everyone, and the relief should be felt by everyone.”

Ms Pressley, who is the first black woman to be elected to congress in Massachusetts, added that the next stage of relief should take into account structural injustices, in order to give everyone the help they need.

“This truly is a crisis within a crisis,” she said. “With this fourth stimulus package ... we have a responsibility to repair the systemic injustices — systemic and structural injustice.

“The fact that this is being disproportionately bore by black and brown communities is no surprise to anyone on this phone.”

When asked for comment, a White House spokesperson told the Independent that the president has shown bold leadership while tackling the pandemic.

“While Rep. Pressley and her fellow Democrats pursued a sham impeachment and failed to even seriously acknowledge the virus in January and February, President Trump took early and unprecedented action in stopping the spread of COVID-19 when we had no true idea the level of transmission or asymptomatic spread and unleashed the full power of the federal government to expand testing capacities and expedite vaccine development,” they said.

“The President remains completely focused on the health and safety of the American people and it is because of his bold leadership that we will emerge from this challenge healthy, stronger, and with a prosperous and growing economy.”

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, in the US there are upwards of 826,248 people who have tested positive for coronavirus. The death toll has reached at least 45,153.