House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Friday slammed presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden for not fielding questions about his call for a mask mandate or other questions about the coronavirus pandemic and called into question what his response would have been.
"That's the fundamental difference, Joe Biden doesn't want to take the questions," McCarthy told Fox News' "Fox & Friends," while touting the "six vaccines and more than 6,000 therapeutics" that have been developed or are under development under President Donald Trump's administration.
"If Joe Biden was president, we'd still be debating whether planes from China should be coming to America," McCarthy he also said.
Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., held their second joint virtual campaign event Thursday, when Biden made his call for a national mask mandate. Neither candidates, however, answered any questions from reporters at the event, leading to media complaints.
"Joe Biden doesn't want to take the questions because when you ask him tough questions, he was opposed to stopping those flights from China that saved thousands of lives in America," McCarthy said Friday. "This is a really difficult problem for Joe Biden, especially if you ask him any questions or if he came out of the basement."
McCarthy also appeared on CNBC's "Squawk Box," where he commented about the continuing impasse over passing coronavirus relief legislation, saying it would be better for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to say how much she needs, not what she needs it for.
"It's like a credit . . . why don't we use that to find the common ground that is money," McCarthy said. "That is money that's already appropriated, to save the taxpayer from spending more but also achieve what you're looking to do.
"I believe we can find common ground," he added. "Let's just take the politics, the number of days before the election out of this, and let's get in the room and get it done."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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