Lincoln Project hits Trump on testing ‘confession’

The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Republican super PAC, slammed President Trump in a new ad on Tuesday after he quipped that he encouraged administration officials to slow down coronavirus testing and blamed it for increased cases in the U.S. 

“The most deceptive, lying president in history finally told the truth. Somehow, it was more shocking than all his deceptions,” the narrator in the ad, titled “Truth,” said, referring to Trump’s Saturday comments. 

“Slow the testing down? Slow down our chance to save tens of thousands of lives. Slow down our understanding of where COVID is and how it’s spreading. Slow down the steps to reopen the economy. Every single expert told him to test more and test faster, and now we know his response,” the narrator continued. 

Trump told the crowd of supporters in Tulsa, Okla., that 25 million people have been tested in the U.S. 

“It’s probably 20 million people more than anybody else, he said. “Germany’s done a lot. South Korea’s done a lot.”

“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people. You’re going to find more cases,” Trump continued. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please!'”

The Lincoln Project, which is partly run by Washington, D.C., lawyer George Conway, who is married to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, in a Tuesday statement called Trump’s comments a “confession,” saying “he ordered his administration to slow testing for Covid-19.”

Trump in an interview on Monday said that he did not direct officials to slow down COVID-19 testing.

“I think we put ourselves at a disadvantage,” Trump told the Christian Broadcast Network, saying widespread testing “makes us in a way look bad, but actually we’re doing the right thing.”

Trump aides have said that his comment in Tulsa was a joke. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Monday that was “made in jest.” 

“It was a comment that he made in passing, specifically with regard to the media coverage and pointing out the fact that the media acknowledges that we have more cases because where you test more people you find more cases,” McEnany said. 

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on the Tuesday ad. 

The Lincoln Project also called out Trump in an ad this week over the turnout at his Tulsa rally, which ended up being well below the BOK Center’s capacity. Trump campaign officials previously said there were 1 million tickets registered for the event.