Thursday on MSNBC, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said President Donald Trump had put America “behind by months in preparation” on the coronavirus pandemic because of his unwillingness to act and lead.

Gillibrand said, “President Trump would do better to put experts in charge of this pandemic. President Trump has made poor decisions from the very beginning. At first, minimizing the risk and second denying the risk and third, not moving on the risk. He didn’t actually create the resources that would be necessary to deal with this epidemic. He should have allowed testing from January on and not required it to go through the CDC. He’s put us behind by months in preparation because of his unwillingness to act and lead. Governors and mayors are doing their best to make up for his lost time.”

She added, “We need truth-tellers right now. Unfortunately, President Trump continues to tell conspiracies and lies to the American people and continues to undermine the experts who are trying to deal with this unbelievable disaster throughout the country. We’re in the middle of an epidemic. We need truth-tellers and leaders. We need who can admit the buck stops with them, and that’s not what we’re seeing with this president.”

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