Biden chief of staff pick downplayed coronavirus and praised de Blasio for large gathering with no mask

By | November 13, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for chief of staff downplayed the threat of the coronavirus in February by praising New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for taking part in a large gathering with no mask.

“We don’t have a #COVIDー19 epidemic in the US but we are starting to see a fear epidemic,” longtime Democratic political consultant Ron Klain tweeted on Feb. 13. “Kudos to @NYCMayor (and others) for standing against that.”

Conservatives on social media have criticized Klain, who served as former President Barack Obama’s Ebola “czar” and has been heralded as a qualified candidate to handle the coronavirus pandemic, for this tweet as well as other comments about the virus in the past.

“In February 2020, Klain went on Pod Save America and downplayed the coronavirus,” GOP Rapid Response Director Steve Guest tweeted this week. “‘No reason to yet to be fearful, no reason really panic or anything like that.’ Ron Klain would be a disaster for America.”

The Biden team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.

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Other prominent Democrats have been criticized for making similar statements after President Trump banned travel from China into the United States on Jan. 31, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who encouraged people to visit San Francisco’s Chinatown in late February, and de Blasio, who encouraged New Yorkers to go to the movies in early March, in addition to the outing that prompted Klain’s tweet.

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