In tonight’s briefing, Trump continued to pass the buck. But Dr. Fauci admitted that it was the Trump administration who failed to ramp up testing early on.

Trump continued to put the responsibility for testing onto governors after he failed to provide them with the testing resources they need.

Reuters’ Jeff Mason: “Trump says partisan voices and media have spread false reporting about US testing capability for #coronavirus but does not give evidence of testing ramp-up.”

NPR’s Domenico Montanaro: “The U.S. did not test early enough and it’s still not widespread enough. If you want a test, and don’t have symptoms, you can’t get one. Trump says ‘partisan’ voices in the media and elected officials are spreading misinformation about the U.S. testing capabilities. False”

Washington Post: “When Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) said they got the ‘great Abbott machines’ two weeks ago but still don’t have testing kits required to use them, Trump replied that the states are ‘going to lead the testing.’”

Washington Post: “Trump’s plan does not contain a national testing strategy. Senior administration officials said that although the federal government will try to facilitate access to tests, states and localities will be responsible for developing and administering their own testing programs.”

Dr. Fauci contradicted Trump and White House claims by admitting that the Trump administration failed to ramp up testing early.

Wall Street Journal’s Rebecca Ballhaus: “Fauci says the administration’s struggle to get up to speed on testing was ‘an issue of embracing as we have now, and should have, the private sector, who clearly has the capability of making and providing tests at the level that we will need them.’”

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins: “Fauci acknowledges how flawed initial testing was & how long it took to embrace the private sector. A list circulated by WH this week highlighting steps Trump took in Feb. included FDA allowing private labs to develop test kits, which experts say should have happened much sooner.”

Trump tried to blame past administrations when it was his own failure to prepare that led to testing shortages across the country.

Vox’s Aaron Rupar: “‘We started from ground zero’ — Trump tries to blame Obama for not preparing testing capabilities for a virus that didn’t exist when he was president”

Trump attacked Democratic governors for taking steps to mitigate the spread of coronavirus in their states and encouraged Americans not to follow them.

CNN’s Jim Acosta: “Trump asked about his ‘liberate’ tweets says he’s ‘very comfortable’ with those posts saying the states he went after have done too much in terms of social distancing. (The states are following the nation’s guidelines)”

Vox’s Aaron Rupar: “‘They wanna take their guns away … when you talk about ‘liberate’ or liberation, you can certainly look at Virginia as one’ — Trump is unrepentant about his tweets basically calling for civil unrest in states with democratic governors”

Associated Press’s Jill Colvin: “Trump on protesters flouting social distancing restrictions: ‘They seem to be very responsible people to me.’”

Trump tried to justify tens of thousands of Americans dying by comparing it to the potential death toll if we had done nothing. 

TRUMP: “2.2 million people. A minimum if we did nothing would have be 1.6 [million]. If you cut that half, you’re talking about 800,000, 900,000, 1 million people dying. But we did a lot of work.”

Washington Post’s Aaron Blake: “Trump is now comparing the potential death toll to the highest estimates with no mitigation (2.2 million) and the Civil War (600,000) — says it will be much lower, 60 or maybe 65,000.”