President Trump on Monday ripped into Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris after the senator said she doesn’t trust Trump when it comes to a coronavirus vaccine.
The president stressed that the vaccine will be “very safe and very effective,” and could be delivered as early as October before the election, he said.
“You could have a very big surprise coming up,” Trump said, later adding, “We’re going to have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special date. You know what date I’m talking about.”
The president was presumably referring to Election Day on Nov. 3, when he will face off against former Vice President Joe Biden.
Harris, Biden’s running mate, in a weekend CNN interview was asked if she would get a coronavirus vaccine that was approved by the federal government before the presidential election.
“Well, I think that’s going to be an issue for all of us,” Harris said.
“I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump and it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he’s talking about,” Harris added. “I will not take his word for it.”
Biden on Monday said that Trump has been “undermining public confidence” in a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I would want to see what the scientists said,” Biden said when asked if he would take a coronavirus vaccine before the election. “I want full transparency on a vaccine.”
Trump on Monday said that Biden and Harris should “immediately apologize for the reckless anti-vaccine rhetoric that they are talking right now.”
“They’re going to make the vaccine into a negative,” the president said, later adding, “Now they’re saying, ‘Wow, Trump’s pulled this off. OK, let’s disparage the vaccine.’ That’s so bad for this country. That’s so bad for the world to even say that.”
The U.S. is producing a vaccine in record time, Trump said.
“With me, it’s the faster the better,” he said. “If we get the vaccine early, that’s a great thing.”
The president also talked about the military in the wake of a bombshell story from The Atlantic, which alleges Trump calling U.S. soldiers who died in battle “losers” and “suckers.” The president also requested that wounded veterans get kept out of military parades, according to The Atlantic.
Trump has denied that he made the remarks, saying last week, “It’s a fake story and it’s a disgrace that they’re allowed to do it.”
On Monday, Trump said of the military, “I’m not saying the military’s in love with me. The soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t because they want to do nothing but fight wars, so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy.”
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