Trump lashes out at Schumer over call for supply czar

President Trump on Thursday criticized Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for calling on him to tap a czar to oversee the distribution of medical equipment amid the coronavirus outbreak, and appeared to blame the top Democrat for the current situation in the city and state.

In an interview with CNN Wednesday evening, Schumer argued that the White House coronavirus task force is ill-prepared to ensure supplies get to states that need them, describing a “dramatic shortage” of supplies like protective masks and ventilators. Schumer called on Trump to appoint a senior military official as a czar to oversee production and distribution of medical equipment.

“There's a dramatic shortage of all the needed supplies or most of them, whether it's masks, whether it's [Personal Protective Equipment] PPE ... whether it's ventilators. And we have no one really in charge," Schumer told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

“Somebody please explain to Cryin’ Chuck Schumer that we do have a military man in charge of distributing goods, a very talented Admiral, in fact,” Trump tweeted Thursday morning, referring to Rear Adm. John Polowczyk, who is leading FEMA’s supply chain task force. Trump then suggested Schumer “should have pushed harder” to ensure New York, which has emerged as the epicenter of the domestic coronavirus outbreak, had adequate supplies to deal with the crisis.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/490770-trump-lashes-out-at-schumer-over-call-for-supply-czar