[Politico] The Trump administration confronted a new threat Tuesday in the mounting coronavirus crisis: a fierce bipartisan backlash amid contradictory statements from the federal government about the severity of the outbreak.Administration officials sought to swat away concerns their emergency request for $2.5 billion to address the outbreak was inadequate, even as some Republicans joined Democrats in criticizing the amount ‐ and slamming a lack of transparency around efforts to contain the disease on U.S. soil.
The furor came amid new fears of an outbreak in the United States, with a top official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warning that spread of the respiratory illness in the country is now inevitable. Officials said a burst of new cases in countries like South Korea and Italy prompted the new, urgent warning.
Adding to fears that the virus could continue to spread unabated, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday floated the possibility that the summer games in Tokyo could be canceled if the outbreak isn’t under control by then.
The grim news and the angst on Capitol Hill is threatening to overwhelm the messaging from President Donald Trump and some of his aides, who have been trying to downplay the situation in hopes they can put a lid on the stock market tumble and cable news coverage of mounting deaths around the world. Trump's advisers and political allies are increasingly concerned that a botched response could hurt the U.S. economy and put his reelection prospects at risk.
Tuesday’s events showed the White House may need to come up with a new way to limit the damage.