Trump Chides Hogan For Korean Coronavirus Test Kits Deal

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The political back and forth continued between the White House andMaryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who garnered national press attention Monday for touting a deal to buy 500,000 coronavirus test kits from South Korea. At his late afternoon press briefing, President Donald Trump said that Hogan seemed unaware of federal labs the state could use; the governor's office pushed back on those assertions.

Trump said the nation's governors were given a list Monday of the labs in each state where authorities can find more coronavirus testing capacity. Vice President Mike Pence led a call with Hogan and other governors about where labs stand ready to test samples.

"The governor from Maryland didn't really understand the list, he didn't understand too much about what was going on, so now I think he'll be able to do that, it's pretty simple," Trump told reporters. "But they have tremendous capacity and we hope to be able to help him out, to work with them, and work with all of the governors."

Hogan disagreed with that characterization, saying “We already knew where the labs were," the Baltimore Sun reported. The list of labs provided by federal officials included many federal and military facilities that the state doesn’t have access to, he said.

Late Monday night Hogan tweeted, "I’m grateful to President Trump for sending us a list of federal labs and generously offering Maryland use of them for #COVID19 testing. Accessing these federal labs will be critical for utilizing the 500,000 tests we have acquired from South Korea."

Trump also criticized Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, claiming that the Democrat did not understand his capacity to test either.

Hogan said after weeks of negotiation, Maryland has procured 500,000 testing kits from the South Korean company LabGenomics. A chartered Korean passenger jet landed Saturday at Baltimore-Washington International Airport for the first time to deliver some of the kits.

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The South Korean deal represents an "exponential, game-changing step forward" for the state's testing initiative," Hogan said. The test kits will cost about $9 million — which the governor said "seems like a pretty worthwhile investment" considering it will protect thousands of lives and get the state's economy back on track.

Admiral Brett Giroir, the administration’s testing coordinator, also questioned Hogan's deal with South Korea for tests during Monday's White House briefing. “I don’t know what the governor of Maryland is doing in South Korea, but there is excess capacity every day," CNN reported. "If he wanted to send 30 or 40,000 tests to LabCorp and Quest, that could be done. That could be done tomorrow.”

Pence said he would follow up with Hogan’s office.

“I don’t know when the governor placed the order from South Korea. I wouldn’t begrudge him or his health officials for ordering tests. But the capacity for all the different laboratories and number of machines across Maryland is part of what we were communicating today,” Pence said, adding that governors were assured access to federal testing facilities.

In response to the White House jabs, Hogan's spokesman, Mike Ricci, tweeted a letter from a month ago. It was signed by Hogan, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and asked for a federal testing site in the national capital region.

Hogan told CNN that governors have been looking for tests “wherever they can find it” after the president made clear that “the governors need to go out and get their own testing,” the Sun reported.

States need to assess their lab capacity and some have more capacity than they understand, Trump told reporters Monday. Governors should not simply ask for federal government to provide unlimited support, but will lend a hand to states. The president reiterated that it is up to individual states to lead the coronavirus efforts.

“As Maryland begins its reopening and recovery, Marylanders should feel confident in knowing that we have done everything in our power, gone to every length, and used every tool and every resource at our disposal to defeat this deadly virus,” Hogan said Monday.

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