Mike Pence Struggles as CNN’s Alisyn Camerota Puts Him Through Coronavirus Grilling

Vice President Mike Pence faced some probing questions from CNN’s Aliysn Camerota on Thursday. The New Day host asked Pence about the apparently contradictory and confusing approach taken by President Donald Trump and his address on Wednesday night.

Camerota asked why there was so much confusion about Trump’s address, which had to clarified on several points by the White House.

“I don’t think there was confusion,” Pence said. “The President took another historic step, just like he did in January with China, to suspend all travel from Europe for the next 30 days.”

“I don’t think there was confusion,” VP Pence says about clarifications issued after Trump announced he was sharply restricting travel to the US.

“…Suspending all travel for 30 days from Europe is a part of the strategy. The other part is an aggressive mitigation strategy.” pic.twitter.com/O9sYcxOaSf

— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) March 12, 2020

Camerota also asked Pence about the number of tests that have been conducted. She pointed to figures from the CDC that showed the number of tests had fallen this week. Pence didn’t agree they had.

“If you’re saying the CDC website numbers are wrong, how many tests have been conducted in the U.S.?” Camerota asked.

The CDC website shows the number of tests for coronavirus in the US have gone down in the past few days. VP Pence says the numbers "may not be complete because we don't necessarily collect today all the information from state laboratories about the tests that are being done." pic.twitter.com/KQMJWTkkln

— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) March 12, 2020

“I’m not saying they’re wrong, Alisyn, I’m saying they may not be complete because we don’t necessarily today collect all the information from state laboratories,” Pence said.

He was asked how many tests had taken place and replied: “Well, I would leave that to the experts.”

Watch the videos above, via CNN/Twitter.