Pompeo Blames China For US Outbreak, Says Lack Of Transparency “Left Us Behind The Curve”

Mike Pompeo was the featured guest on “Squawk Box” Friday morning, and when asked about China’s grandiose claims about the country’s virus-fighting efforts, the Secretary of State accused the Communist Party leaders of deliberately delaying the sharing of data and other information that would have been of “great benefit” to the US during the early days of the outbreak.

Though he didn’t offer much in the way of specifics, Pompeo said China’s foot-dragging left the US “behind the curve” as it sought to contain the first signs of an incipient outbreak in January.

Working with the Chinese throughout the outbreak has been “incredibly frustrating,” Pompeo said, even as scientists sought to get information “which will ultimately be the solution to both getting the vaccine and attacking this risk.”

Over in China, state media is touting the Communist Party’s ‘triumph’ over the virus as areas and cities impose travel bans on foreigners as part of China’s national exercise in gloating. China once slammed the US’s travel restrictions and mandatory screenings and quarantines as “racist”, citing the WHO’s declaration that they weren’t appropriate at the time (Europe followed that advice and look how it turned out: every state on the Continent has confirmed at least one case, except for Slovakia).

Now, Chinese news anchors are telling the population that the global community owes a debt of gratitude to China for its “sacrifice” in containing the outbreak (referring to the draconian crackdown instituted by Chinese officials).

Apparently, the domestic propaganda channels are overlooking the fact that the virus originated in China and the government’s slow response unleashed the disease on the world.

Pompeo has called coronavirus the Wuhan virus. He explains he’s using that term because the CCP said that’s where the virus originated, and he says to take their word for it, on fox this morning.

— Kylie Atwood (@kylieatwood) March 6, 2020

As Pompeo added, Communist Party officials have confirmed that the virus came from Wuhan, even as China’s party-backed conspiracists continue to tout rumors that the virus was a tool invented by the Americans.

As he added, he calls the virus “the Wuhan virus” to remind the world where it came from.

“No less authority than the Chinese Communist Party said it came from Wuhan,” Pompeo said. “So don’t take Mike Pompeo’s word for it. We have pretty high confidence that we know where this began.”

“We have high confidence, too, that there was information that could have been made available more quickly and data that could have been provided and shared among health professionals across the world,” Pompeo added. “It’s most unfortunate.”

Pompeo blasted China for its lack of transparency.

“That’s not the way infectious disease doctors tell me it should work. It’s not the way America works with transparency and openness and the sharing of the information that needs to take place.”

In other Pompeo-related news, liberals were losing their minds on twitter over Pompeo’s interview with Fox News last night, where he took shots at Hillary Clinton’s “unlawful” behavior (now that Biden has a chance, many are reviving hopes that Clinton might be picked as VP contender).

“She has been investigated a lot. I think there might be a reason for that.” — here’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Fox & Friends taking shots at Hillary Clinton and accusing her of “unlawful” behavior pic.twitter.com/aWCCzrDR8U

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 6, 2020

Watch Pompeo’s full CNBC interview below:

Of course, Pompeo’s boss, President Trump, has been catching a lot of flak lately for seemingly not taking the outbreak seriously enough (on Friday, he appeared to suggest that people could still go to work if they had the virus. Now that, as Larry Kudlow said on CNBC during a separate interview on Friday, Trump is essentially running against the virus, how much longer until President Trump incorporates these same talking points into his own rhetoric, and once again turns the heat up on China to win back some easy political points.