Sen. Tammy DuckworthLadda (Tammy) Tammy DuckworthDuckworth calls for Russian bounties intelligence to be declassified Senate Democrats call on GAO to review child care access barriers for disabled parents, kids Biden signs supply chain order after 'positive' meeting with lawmakers MORE (D-Ill.) said Sunday that President Trump
Donald TrumpProsecutors focus Trump Organization probe on company's financial officer: report WHO official says it's 'premature' to think pandemic will be over by end of year Romney released from hospital after fall over the weekend MORE’s speech at Mount Rushmore’s Fourth of July celebration demonstrated that “his priorities are all wrong.”
The Illinois Democrat told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the president’s Friday speech in South Dakota “spent more time worried about honoring dead Confederates” than discussing the number of Americans who died from COVID-19.
“I mean his priorities are all wrong here,” she said. “He should be talking about what we’re gonna do to overcome this pandemic. What are we going to do to push Russia back?”
“Instead, he had no time for that,” she added. “He spent all his time talking about dead traitors."
Sen. Tammy Duckworth on President Trump's Mt. Rushmore speech where he defended Confederate monuments: "His priorities are wrong. What are we going to do to push Russia back? Instead, he had no time for that. He spent all his time talking about dead traitors" #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/Qs6bzdGGY3
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 5, 2020
CNN’s Dana BashDana BashKhashoggi fiancée: Not punishing Saudi crown prince would be 'stain on our humanity' Senate Democrat: Saudi relationship being 'recalibrated' Sunday shows - Trump's reemergence, COVID-19 vaccines and variants dominate MORE had asked the senator about Trump’s speech defending Confederate monuments and movements to take down statues of some Founding Fathers, like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who owned slaves.
“I’m more worried about 130,000, who have lost their lives recently and the thousands and thousands of Americans who are currently sick than I am about our historical past,” Duckworth said.
“We need to talk about what we're doing now to bring this country off of the brink of chaos at its end,” she added.
Trump blasted demonstrators who are requesting the removal of statues, saying they want to “overthrow the American Revolution” at Mount Rushmore’s Fourth of July event.
In the meantime, the U.S. has confirmed more than 2.8 million cases of COVID-19, leading to at least 129,676 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.