Trump blasts Republican governor for buying 500,000 coronavirus tests from South Korea after federal government stalled

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Donald Trump insulted the governor of Maryland for purchasing coronavirus testing kits from South Korea, claiming he "didn't understand too much about what was going on" while defending the administration's slow response to the pandemic.

The president insisted during a White House press briefing on Monday that Governor Larry Hogan (R—Md) didn’t actually need to purchase the reported 500,000 testing kits from South Korea. The country confirmed its first case of the novel virus on 20 January — the same day as the US — and quickly managed to ramp up its testing capabilities, in turn reducing the spread of transmissions.

“Some of the governors like, as an example, the governor from Maryland, didn't really understand the list, he didn't understand too much about what was going on”, Mr Trump said, citing a list of nearly 5,000 federally-operated labs accepting coronavirus tests nationwide. The White House reportedly distributed the list to state governments in recent days.

“I don’t think he needed to go to South Korea,” the president continued. “I think he needed to get a little knowledge — would have been helpful.”

The comments came after Mr Hogan revealed he had been “quietly working” for weeks on a “confidential project” with South Korea surrounding the testing kits. He welcomed the shipment of kits during the weekend as a “very important payload” that will help increase the state’s testing capabilities.

The governor told CNN on Monday night that he was “not sure what the president is referring to”, while directly responding to Mr Trump’s statement about the labs accepting testing kits: “hey were either federal health facilities that we have been desperately trying to get help from or military operations — none of which were state-owned labs or facilities where we could actually do any testing.”

“I have a pretty good understanding of what’s going on,” he continued, “and I appreciated the information that was provided by [the president’s] team, but he wasn't there for it. I'm not sure what he was trying to say."

Mr Hogan also tweeted on Monday night that he was “grateful to President Trump for sending us a list of federal labs”, as well as for “generously offering Maryland use of them” for Covid-19 testing.

He added: “Accessing these federal labs will be critical for utilising the 500,000 tests we have acquired from South Korea.”

The White House coronavirus task force — spearheaded by Vice President Mike Pence — has sought to speed up testing capabilities across the country ahead of the president’s plans to begin “reopening” the US economy on 15 May.

On Monday, the vice president said about Mr Hogan’s purchasing of testing kits from South Korea: “I wouldn't begrudge him or his health officials for ordering tests."