Democratic presidential hopeful Tom Steyer said Thursday on CNN’s “Situation Room,” that President Donald Trump and his administration’s response to the global outbreak of coronavirus was already a failure because he was “very, very late.”

Blitzer asked, “If you were president right now, what would you be doing differently than the president?”

Steyer said, “Well, let me say this, Wolf, the president has already blown this. He is very, very late. The first announcement of this publicly was at the end of December of last year. We’re at the end of February, and he is starting to focus on this. Honestly, that is way too late. He has already gutted the Centers for Disease Control.”

He continued. “He should have been on this months ago. He should have been sending scientists to China. He should have been working to develop a vaccine. He should have been working with the National Institute of Public Health. This is a guy who thinks that this is a problem for his re-election and thinks it’s a problem for the economy, and he’s right in both cases. But let’s be clear. He’s the president of the United States. His job is to protect the health and safety of American citizens first and foremost, and he’s failed at his basic duty.”

He added, “This is a clear example of Mr. Trump’s incompetence, deep incompetence, and we’re watching it real-time.”

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