Trump team privately admitted ‘critical mistakes’ on Covid: ‘We do not have a clue’

Members of former President Donald Trump’s administration were warning privately of a serious spread of Covid-19 in the US while the president was publicly bashing his political opponents for warning of the exact same scenario, according to emails obtained by Congress.

The House select committee to probe the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic released emails on Tuesday between Peter Navarro, the former White House trade adviser, and Steven Hatfill, a pathologist and outside adviser to Mr Trump. In the emails, Mr Hatfill warns the White House: “[i]n truth we do not have a clue how many are infected in the USA”, adding that the first major wave of infections would begin in the US “within the next 7 days”.

“The [Centers for Disease Control (CDC)] has made a series of critical mistakes in implementing the most basic measure in infectious disease control, when it distributed infective test kits for coronavirus diagnosis. This served to limit our ability to screen individuals for Covid-19 infection and containment,” Mr Hatfill said in an email dated 29 February 2020.