Tuesday on CSPAN, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) criticized the Trump administration’s initial response to the coronavirus pandemic compared to the rest of the world.

Romney said, “The first phase which is getting ready to respond, clearly we were not in a position of extraordinary strength. We didn’t have the testing as fast as we could have or should have, we did not have the personal protective equipment we would’ve hoped to have.”

He continued, “Then just in terms of crisis management, the willingness of the federal government to step in and to coordinate everything from PPE to testing to repair of our hospital systems and so forth, those things, none of those things really stood out as being great moments in American leadership. I think the world was a bit surprised by that.”

He added, “When it came to PPE when it came to testing, and just the speed of our response looked slow relative to people like well, South Korea, Singapore, China, Germany and even Sweden to a certain degree. So that first phase is not one that will stand out, I think, as being a great moment in American leadership.”

He concluded, “The first phase, we didn’t look real strong, and that’s kind of an understatement, but after this is over, I think what we will have been able to do, and our technology base will maintain the reputation we have as being a leader, if not the leader of the world.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN