ABC Grills Biden on Covid ‘Failure’: ‘How Did You Get It Wrong?’

President Biden was as surprised as any person watching ABC. World News TonightOn Wednesday, anchor David Muir was critical of Biden’s handling of the Covid pandemic. Biden was limited in his options as Muir pressurized him about the lack testing availability before Christmas, and lack of foresight on a new Omicron variant.

After discussing the FDA’s approval of Pfizer’s anti-Covid pill and how the administration purchased millions of them, Muir drilled down on the lack of testing available to the public just before Christmas:

MUIR

BIDEN: Yep.

MUIR — They should be confident before spending time with their families.

BIDEN: Yeah.

MUIR : Today I witnessed it coming to Washington. This is what you will hear if you visit the pharmacy. There are empty shelves and no test kits. What is the point of that?

BIDEN : I do not think that it is a failure. You could argue we should know a year, six month, two or three months back, or a month before.

After Biden confused the pills with the tests, Muir went back to the administration’s lack of preparedness “nearly two years into this pandemic, you’re a year into the presidency” resulting in “empty shelves and no test kits in some places three days before Christmas when it’s so important.” “Is that good enough,” he wanted to know.

“No, nothing’s been good enough,” Biden bizarrely admitted. Then he claimed that the situation has improved with Biden in office and suggested that people only were able to get together for Christmas this year. “We couldn’t do that last Christmas,” he asserted.

In reality, Christmas 2020 saw millions of Americans travel and gather for the holiday.

A short time later, Muir brought up the President’s ill-fated Fourth of July promise that the pandemic was almost over:

MUIR : Tell me about July 4th. You will remember the speech well. It was a statement that you made to the American people, stating that they are now closer than ever towards their Independence from a fatal virus. Are you sure you didn’t overpromise?

BIDEN: We were not closer than we ever thought, but we still don’t really know a lot.

After Muir asked and Biden agreed that we’re “chasing omicron instead of being ahead of it,” the ABC anchor seemed to place the blame in Biden’s lap:

MUIR – The Vice President [Kamala Harris]You said that Omicron came sooner than you thought. What made you do it wrong?

BIDEN: [Laughter]What went wrong? No one saw this coming. It was not possible for anyone to see it coming. It was unimaginable.

“So, did the administration not expect that there could be moments like this one where you’d have a highly transmissible variant that’s possible around the corner,” Muir clarified his question. To which, Biden suggested that “sure” the administration expected something like Omicron to come around.

The admiration was expecting this exact outcome, but it didn’t happen. We have never seen anything like it before. On that’s right, the Afghanistan withdrawal.

You can find the transcript below. To read it, please click on “expand”.

ABC’s World News Tonight
December 22, 2021
Eastern, 6:34:43

DAVID MURIR: We were just about to sit down here when we learned that an omicron was detected in every state. Yesterday, you assured the American people that we’re ready for whatever comes. Just three days before Christmas, it’s everywhere. You can see them all over the country. People waiting in long lines to test the water.

JOE BIDEN, THE PRESIDENT:

MUIR — They should be confident before spending time with their families.

BIDEN: Yeah.

MUIR : Today I witnessed it coming to Washington. This is what you will hear if you visit the pharmacy. There are empty shelves and no test kits. What is the point of that?

BIDEN : I do not think that it is a failure. You could argue that it was something we should have known one year ago, six month ago, two or three months ago and one month ago. Half a million of these pills have been ordered by me, that’s 500,000,000 pills. There are 500 million kits of test that will be made available for everyone in America.

The truth is, yes. I wish that I would have ordered half a million pills before Covid arrived.

MUIR Are you satisfied?

BIDEN : I don’t think so. However, take a look at the current situation. Last Christmas was a difficult time because we had significantly fewer people getting vaccinated. All the emergency rooms were crowded. Hospital backups were severe, causing immense difficulties.

We are now in the position where there are 200 million fully vaccinated. We now have 200 million fully vaccinated and more have received at least one shot. These booster shots are also being given to them.

So, we’ve moved along, and we still, the CDC is still saying and my — the docs who advise me on this, they’re still saying, if you are tested, if you know where you are in terms of having gotten the shots, there’s no reason why you can’t get together with your family and your friends. And we couldn’t do that last Christmas.

(…)

Eastern, 6:37:14

MUIR : Tell me about July 4th. You will remember the speech well. It was a statement that you made to the American people, stating that they are now closer than ever towards their Independence from a fatal virus. Are you sure you didn’t overpromise?

BIDEN: We were not closer than ever before, but we still don’t really know a lot. This is like asking, When does this end? What are our chances of overcoming this virus? Is it possible to defeat the Delta virus?

It is clear that the answer to this question is yes. We have some of the most talented scientists on the planet. Our pace is faster than other nations. We don’t have any idea, and we can’t be certain.

MUIR: To Americans that might feel like they’re trying to catch omicron, instead of being ready for it and ahead of the curve.

BIDNE: Omicron was only introduced just before Thanksgiving. Omicron was not mentioned in the news six months back. However, it is very recent. We are now chasing Omicron. The truth is that you chase whatever appears on the scene this summer, or this year, for instance.

MUIR – The Vice President [Kamala Harris]You said that Omicron came sooner than you thought. What made you do it wrong?

BIDEN: [Laughter]What went wrong? No one saw this coming. It was not possible for anyone to see it coming. It was unimaginable.

MUIR Most likely, it will be very transmissible as the virus tries to keep alive over time.

BIDEN: Yes.

MUIR — Trying to survive. Also, the government didn’t expect there would be times like these where you might have a transmissible variant.

BIDEN: Sure.

MUIR: What is possible just around the corner?

BIDEN That’s possible. What do you need to plan for? What do you plan for?

(…)