Earlier this morning Andrew Cuomo of New York demanded to know why the federal government is hoarding 20,000 ventilators in its stockpile and only sent 400, in what he characterized as a death sentence to many New Yorkers.
Your first priority is health. You have 20,000 ventilators in the stockpile. Release the ventilators to New York.'”
“How can we be in a situation where you can have New Yorkers possibly dying because they can’t get a ventilator, but a federal agency saying, I’m going to leave the ventilators in the stockpile?” he added. “I mean, have we really come to that point?”
During a town hall-type event on Fox News, host Bill Hemmer interviewed the supposed leader of the task force, Mike Pence.
Hemmer's first question was about Gov Cuomo's demand for thousands of stockpiled ventilators.
"Moments ago New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo is imploring the construction immediately of up to 30,000 ventilators to be shipped to New York ," Hemmer said.
"What would be the hold up?" the Fox News host asked.
Pence's response was typical gaslighting and obfuscation of the question. Like the rest of the White House, Pence refused to answer any specific question about Coronavirus solutions. Instead, he glorified Trump's reaction to the virus.
Pence replied, "Let me say first and foremost as the president announced action earlier this week from New York to Washington State for California."
"That from very early in this process President Trump has forged a seamless partnership with our governors, " Pence said.
Really? Then why was Gov. Cuomo screaming until he's blue in the face about the Trump administration's hoarding of the ventilators?
VP Pence then lectured Americans on how "they respond" to health crisis in America.
"It's locally executed, the healthcare workers and at time's law enforcement on the ground, community officials that are in the lead. It's state-managed, Bill. And then it's federally supported," Pence said.
Cuomo is yelling that they are getting no support from the Federal government. Mr. Pence. Right now the feds are holding 20,000 ventilators away from New York and instead offering up congratulations to the private sector for stepping up their efforts to combat the coronavirus.
Pence continued with a lengthy monologue about all the other things they are doing to help states, except of course, he never responded to Gov. Cuomo directly.
Outnumbered host Harris Faulkner then took over and asked Mike Pence an actual follow-up question that Hemmer neglected to do.
"He's (Gov. Cuomo) He saying that the administration is saying no on the stockpile of ventilators," Harris said.
Faulkner then talked about the spike in cases in New York.
Faulkner asked, "Why not just release that stockpile now?”
Pence replied, "Well, what I can tell you and your viewers is that we’re doing just that. We’re in the process of literally sending the entire national stockpile out.”
Then why doesn't Governor Cuomo know about it?
Pence then shifted off to his conversations with the New York City mayor and the governor two days ago and then brought up the idea of having other equipment modified to become ventilators.
Faulkner then asked what's faster going through the system as you're describing or the stockpile, real quick?
Pence replied. "The president said it's in an "all of the above" strategy."
It appears that Gov. Cuomo has not been informed of what they're talking about and is getting no response from the White House. That's why he's communicating his disgust at the way the Trump administration is handling their stockpile of ventilators.
What we know for sure is we have an administration (Trump) that refuses to unleash the full power and might of the federal government to combat a pandemic.
And he has incompetents out front misleading the American public.
