The White House is defending President Donald Trump's use of "Kung flu" when referring to the coronavirus.
"What the president does do is point to the fact that the origin of the virus is China," said White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Monday.
"It's a fair thing to point out as China tries to ridiculously rewrite history, ridiculously blame the corona virus on American soldiers. This is what China's trying to do, what President Trump is saying. No, China. I will label this virus for its place of origin."
“Kung flu,” is a racist term for COVID-19, which originated in China.
The president used the term Saturday as he aired pent-up grievances about the coronavirus at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"The president never regrets putting the onus back on China," said McEnany.
"Pointing out that China is responsible for this and in the process, standing up for U.S. troops who are being blamed by China in a campaign of misinformation."
Trump also tried to defend his handling of the pandemic, even as cases continue to surge in many states, including Oklahoma.
Trump complained that robust testing was making his record look bad and suggested the testing effort should slow down.
“Here’s the bad part. When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more cases,” Trump said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down.’ They test and they test.”
McEnany was asked if it was true officials were asked "to slow down testing."
"It was a comment that he made in jest," said McEnany.
"It's common that he made in passing, specifically with regard to the media coverage and pointing out the fact that the media never acknowledges that we have more cases, because when you test more people, you find more cases."
A White House reporter then asked if t was "appropriate to joke about coronavirus, when the 120,000 people have died,"
"He was not joking about coronavirus," said McEnany.
"I just said he was joking about the media and their failure to understand the fact that when you test more, you also find more cases."
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