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May 06, 2020

Thompson Statement on White House Interference in Medical Supply and Equipment Distribution

(WASHINGTON) – Today, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, released the following statement on news reports that White House interference in Federal government efforts to distribute medical supplies and equipment had a clear negative impact: 

“The fact the White House, at Jared Kushner’s direction, chose to put consulting and private equity firms in charge of emergency response and PPE distribution during a pandemic is truly mindboggling. It should be no surprise that their inexperience led to incompetence.  Worse yet, it seems that allegations of political meddling and bias are just the tip of the iceberg.  This Administration continues to ignore experts and inject politics into everything, but the American people want the government to focus on helping to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.

“It is clear now that despite a rigorous PR effort, the Administration’s effort to get PPE to where it is needed is not a success story.  The missteps this Administration made must be a central part of future Congressional investigations into this pandemic to prevent them from ever being repeated in the future.”

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