New Report Details How Trump’s Cabinet “Remains Largely Sidelined in Coronavirus Fight”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Trump’s Cabinet is “effectively sitting on the sidelines” during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report from NBC News, which finds that “many of Trump’s Cabinet secretaries have remained less than fixated on rapid pandemic response” and are offering “delayed and uneven assistance or support.” The report also noted that many Cabinet secretaries “continue to gut or enforce rules that critics argue are unrelated to the pandemic and are championed by conservatives.”

The report details how Cabinet secretaries including Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, among others, are missing in action during this historic crisis. 

“Every day the President literally shouts that he’s leading an all-hands-on-deck effort to fight COVID-19,” said Accountable.US President Kyle Herrig. “Unfortunately, when you look under the hood, many of the most powerful cabinet agencies are totally asleep at the wheel, or worse, using the pandemic to jam through a host of pro-industry policies. Not only do these measures have nothing to do with fighting the pandemic, they will actually make life harder for vulnerable Americans who need support.”

Below please find key points from the NBC report:

Missing from roles in the official White House Coronavirus Task Force, many of Trump’s Cabinet secretaries have remained less than fixated on rapid pandemic response.

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Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, for example, has rebuffed pleas for new workplace safety mandates from meatpackers, other front-line workers and congressional Democrats. Critics also claim that Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has been slow to release billions in federal funding to struggling farmers. And Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, encamped at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, has hardly been heard from amid the biggest economic crisis in a generation.

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But a review of efforts of several Cabinet departments with tools and enforcement powers to address the pandemic found delayed and uneven assistance or support.

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And only in mid-April did the Department of Agriculture start addressing disruptions to the food supply chain even as farmers destroy crops and grocery stores cite food shortages.

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Trump last convened his Cabinet on Nov. 19, 2019, months before the administration acknowledged coronavirus as a public health threat.

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Andrew Card, who was chief of staff to President George W. Bush, described a similar “whole of government” response within days of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Bush, Card said, held a Cabinet meeting and, “with phenomenal specificity,” addressed each member.

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Perdue’s office did not respond to requests about where he has been working during the pandemic, and NBC did not find news mentions of him visiting with farmers or other stakeholders.

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Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who’s had an empty public schedule for weeks and last appeared at the White House on March 27, is working from home in Michigan. 

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Ross, another Trump Cabinet billionaire and, at 82, its oldest member, is teleworking from Florida to “the extent possible,” according to his office.

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“Many of the most powerful Cabinet agencies are totally asleep at the wheel, or worse, using the pandemic to jam through a host of pro-industry policies,” said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.us, a progressive watchdog.

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