Excerpts of a Q&A with the most trusted person in America that occasionally touches on the least trusted person in America:
Q: What about the travel restrictions? President Trump keeps saying that the travel ban for China, which began 2 February, had a big impact [on slowing the spread of the virus to the United States] and that he wishes China would have told us three to four months earlier and that they were "very secretive." [China did not immediately reveal the discovery of a new coronavirus in late December, but by 10 January, Chinese researchers made the sequence of the virus public.] It just doesn't comport with facts.
A: I know, but what do you want me to do? I mean, seriously Jon, let's get real, what do you want me to do?
Q: Most everyone thinks that you're doing a remarkable job, but you're standing there as the representative of truth and facts but things are being said that aren't true and aren't factual.
A: The way it happened is that after he made that statement [suggesting China could have revealed the discovery of a new coronavirus three to four months earlier], I told the appropriate people, it doesn't comport, because two or three months earlier would have been September. The next time they sit down with him and talk about what he's going to say, they will say, by the way, Mr. President, be careful about this and don't say that. But I can't jump in front of the microphone and push him down. OK, he said it. Let's try and get it corrected for the next time.
Q: At Friday's press conference, you put your hands over your face when President Trump referred to the "deep State Department," [a popular conspiracy theory]. It's even become an internet meme. Have you been criticized for what you did?
A: No comment.
