Mike Pence: Trump ‘Has No Higher Priority Than the Health and Safety of the People’

Vice President Mike Pence spoke to Fox & Friends on Thursday in what appeared to be an attempt to reassure viewers that President Donald Trump’s measures to contain Covid-19 are effective. Trump has already been widely criticized for a confused speech on Wednesday that needed later clarification from the White House.

The Fox News hosts asked Pence what the reaction had been to Trump’s actions. Unsurprisingly, the Vice President had a positive spin.

“Well, I think the reaction has been very favorable across the country,” Pence said. “I mean, the American people have seen, once again, that President Trump has no higher priority than the health and safety of the people of this country.”

“You go back to when the Coronavirus first emerged in January in this country the President, again, just like he did last night, he took unprecedented action in January to suspend all travel from China.”

“We quarantined any Americans that were returning from China to put the health of America first. We issued travel advisories for Italy and for South Korea. But now the reality is that the epicenter of the Coronavirus epidemic has moved from China and South Korea to Europe.”

“Our task force has been tracking that. We brought that information to the president in real time and yesterday he made the decision in the Oval Office so suspend all travel from Europe for the next 30 days and to be clear, Steve, every American that is returning from Europe will be screened as they return through 13 separate airports and will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days.”

The European Union reacted with incredulity and fury to the imposition of travel restrictions on the Schengen common travel area. EU officials say there was no co-ordination between them and the U.S. on the matter.

Watch the video above, via Fox News.