MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on her Monday broadcast accused President Donald Trump of being “willing to lie to the people about things that will keep them alive,” referring to the coronavirus outbreak.

Reading from an Associated Press report, Maddow said, “As bungled, is that the right word? That’s the nice word for it. As bungled as the response has been from our federal government, this is actually a problem of a different kind. And this is, this is the thing that I’ve sort of most been worried about. And it is apparently come to pass. Quote, ‘The White House overruled health officials who wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans be advised not to fly on commercial airlines because of the new coronavirus.’ Quote, ‘The Centers for Disease Control submitted the plan as a way to control the virus, but White House officials ordered the air travel recommendation be removed,’ said one official who had direct knowledge of the plan.”

She continued, “The Trump administration officials have since suggested that certain people should consider not traveling, but they’ve stopped short of the stronger guidance that was sought by the CDC. Quote ‘The person who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity did not have authorization to talk about this matter.’ So if this Associated Press report is correct, the Centers for Disease Control concluded internally, in what was presumably a science-driven process, that not just people with underlying health conditions, not just people with other health challenge, but all older Americans, should not fly. That was the CDC’s reported conclusion about the advice Americans should be given in the context of this virus, in order to keep ourselves safe and alive. Older Americans don’t get on planes.”

She added, “If the best expert advice from the Centers for Disease Control says that all older Americans should not fly, and the White House has spiked that advice, for whatever reason, and so individual officials have to leak it, in order to let the American people know that’s the advice, this is an important moment in this crisis, right? This is sort of, this is the worst-case scenario, that you get from a government that doesn’t know what they’re doing and is willing to lie to the people about things that will keep them alive. ”

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