Ahead of Iowa, hear what those of us who worked with Trump & are now warning about him have to say:

VP Pence: “Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be POTUS… President Trump demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution.”

cnn.com/2024/01/13/opi… Former SecDef Gen. James Mattis: “Donald Trump is more dangerous than anyone could ever imagine.”

Thread: For those who don’t know, I was the Freedom Caucus’ Communications Director around its founding. I was young, ideological, & loved a fight. I truly believe the group was invested in empowering the rank-and-file members to make it a truly representative body. Back then,the group wanted to be taken seriously. We didn’t let Louie Gohmert, for example, join HFC because we worried it would hurt our credibility. Some of the early members were conservatives rising stars: Mick Mulvaney, Ron DeSantis, Jim Jordan, Mark Sanford, & Justin Amash

An observation: the public health professionals advising the government on the COVID response are NOT policy makers. They are advisors. Similar to how Generals advise policy makers on war-making. Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx et al were tasked with making public health recs on how to stop the spread of the virus. It has always been on elected officials to make policy based off of those recommendations. Policy makers, also have to weigh other facts like the economy, educating kids

It’s been the honor of a lifetime to serve in the Trump Administration over the last 3 and a half years, first as Press Secretary to @VP Pence, then as Press Secretary for the @DeptofDefense, & most recently as White House Communications Director. I am deeply proud of the incredible things we were able to accomplish to make our country stronger, safer, and more secure.

Reflecting on some of my proudest moments I've witnessed serving in the @realDonaldTrump @WhiteHouse: witnessing the release of Americans Kim Dong-chul, Tony Kim & Kim Hak-song from North Korea stands out.

Our Admin has rescued over 55 hostages & detainees from 24 countries 🇺🇸 .@realDonaldTrump carried on the proud American tradition to leave no man behind. Because of his unprecedented diplomatic efforts with North Korea, we were able to bring the remains of fallen Korean War soldiers home to American soil.

They said @realDonaldTrump would start World War III, but in fact, he took decisive action to take a leading terrorist, Qasem Soleimani, off the battlefield, restoring deterrence with Iran, & making the world a safer place. They said @realDonaldTrump would weaken our alliances and alienate our allies. In reality, NATO is stronger than ever, with allies committing an additional $130 BILLION to the alliance. We also just announced a historic Peace Deal between our Israeli and UAE allies.

GDP thread: The expected historic negative real GDP growth rate in the Q2 is a result of lockdowns put in place to save lives. Since then, a number of indicators point to strong growth heading into Q3. Q2 GDP encompasses the months of April, May, and June. It is a lagging indicator, and it does not reflect the real-time rebound our economy.

🚨 Admiral Giroir on false reports of US scaling back fed testing support:

“The fed govt is NOT ending funding or support for COVID19 testing sites. On the contrary, we’ve EXPANDED from the original 41 sites to over 600 in 48 states & DC in the federal bundled payment program.” In addition, 93% of all Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) offer COVID-19 testing; thousands of sites. HHS WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE COVID TESTING CAPACITY overall, and make it more accessible especially to underserved communities.

Significant announcements today from @realDonaldTrump to hold China accountable: 1) U.S. will be terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization & redirecting funds to other urgent global public health needs. 2) Today, @realDonaldTrump issued a proclamation to better secure our nation’s vital university research & suspend the entry of certain foreign nationals from China whom we have identified as a potential security risk.

.@realDonaldTrump broke down the WHO’s egregious handling of the COVID outbreak in new letter to Dr. Tedros. The world deserves answers:

-The WHO consistently ignored credible reports of the virus spreading in Wuhan in early December

/thread -The WHO failed to independently investigate credible reports that conflicted directly w/ the Chinese govt's official accounts, even from sources within Wuhan itself.

-The WHO has repeatedly made claims about the coronavirus that were either grossly inaccurate or misleading.

Glad you asked, @JonahDispatch. Thread:
Feb 2: CDC expanded enhanced entry screening to 8 major airports

Feb 4: FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the CDC diagnostic

Feb 5: Trump Admin officials briefed lawmakers on the Federal Govt’s coronavirus response efforts.

https://twitter.com/jonahdispatch/status/1257274140328943616

Feb 9: The Coronavirus Task Force briefed governors from across the country at the NGA Meeting.

Feb 11: HHS expanded coordination with Janssen Research & Development on the creation of coronavirus vaccine

There's been a lot of talk about testing - an important component of reopening our country - but it's just that - one component of a multi-faceted approach. A few things: The U.S. has built the most advanced & robust testing regimen in the world. We've completed more than 3.5 million tests — the most of anywhere in the world. Areas of the U.S. that have been hotspots have done more testing, on a per capita basis, than South Korea.