Trump slams 'complaining' Dem Pritzker at coronavirus briefing, signals openness to more stimulus checks

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Trump slams 'complaining' Dem Pritzker at coronavirus briefing, signals openness to more stimulus checks

Saying "we hope we're seeing a leveling off in the hottest spots of them all," President Trump revealed Sunday evening that 1.67 million people have now been tested for coronavirus in the United States as the "light at the end of the tunnel" emerges  -- although he made clear he felt some politicians have let their constituents down during the crisis. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, in particular, was "complaining all the time" despite underperforming, Trump charged at a briefing with the president's coronavirus task force. The two officials have sparred in recent days, with the Democrat accusing the White House of failing to provide all the ventilators he wanted.

“He’s not able to do what he’s supposed to be able to do as a governor," Trump said. "He has not performed well." Later during the briefing, Vice President Mike Pence said he had spoken to Pritzker, and the governor did "express great appreciation for the fact that our Army Corps of Engineers had constructed 500 beds at McCormick Place [convention center], and before the end of this week would construct another 2,500 beds for an overflow health facility in Chicago." Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the Army Corps was "outstanding," Pence noted.

"We have sent 600 ventilators to the state of Illinois, but I assured the governor,  and I assured the mayor, that while the principle focus that we have in the next several days is the rising cases in the greater New York City area and Louisiana, that Michigan and Illinois are in the forefront of our thinking," Pence said. "At the president's direction, we're gonna make sure that the people of Illinois and the people of Michigan have the resources, equipment, and support that they need."

The flareup was notable given that some prominent left-wing Democratic governors have come to the president's defense.

"This is no time to bicker," California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said last Wednesday on CNN. “Let me just be candid with you. I’d be lying to you to say that [Trump] hasn’t been responsive to our needs. He has. And so, as a sort of an offer of objectivity, I have to acknowledge that publicly." Newsom added: "The fact is, every time that I've called the president, he's quickly gotten on the line. When we asked to get the support for that [USNS] Mercy ship in Southern California, he was able to direct that in real-time. We've got 2,000 of these field medical sites that are up, almost all operational now in the state, because of his support.