Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, harshly criticized White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for saying over the weekend the administration is not going to control the pandemic other than continuing to press for vaccines and therapeutics.
In an interview with CNN's "New Day" on Monday, the Maine senator said his first thought upon hearing Meadows' comments was "Remember five or six months ago the president said 'this is war, I'm a wartime president?' [Sunday] was unconditional surrender. It was basically waving the white flag, saying 'we can't control it, there is nothing we can do.'"
King slammed Meadows' remarks as "nonsense" by pointing out the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been telling the nation for months the basic and clear steps that need to be taken in order to help stop the spread of the coronavirus by social distancing, wearing masks, and properly washing hands.
"If that had been the consistent message from the White House from the beginning, when we knew those were what we had to do, and in the meantime, had they developed a really strong testing program, there would probably be 50 to 100,000 fewer deaths," King said.
"We would be looking like other countries that are having surges, but nothing like what we're having," he added, stressing "[Sunday] was the moment that the White House surrendered to the virus."