Trump Officials Slam Bombshell Report Saying Classified Coronavirus Meetings Slowed Crisis Response

Topline: The Trump administration rejected a Reuters report that quoted anonymous officials who said meetings on coronavirus were treated as classified, therefore limiting the government's response to the crisis, which a National Security Council spokesperson said was "fake news," while Reuters stands by its story.

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• Reuters reported on Wednesday that dozens of coronavirus response meetings held by the Department of Health and Human Services took place in classified rooms, according to the officials, who said the orders came from the National Security Council.
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• The arrangement prevented information from being shared, and potentially delayed the administration's response to the crisis, according to the report.
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• National Security Council spokesperson John Ullyot emailed Reuters after the story was published, according to the newswire, saying "The White House has never ordered any agency 'to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified,'" adding, "This story is fake news."
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• On Thursday, a top Centers for Disease Control official testified on Capitol Hill that the number of meetings in which public health officials discussed coronavirus in classified rooms was "too numerous to count," but that the information shared was not classified.
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• Vice President Mike Pence's office sent Reuters a joint statement from HHS Secretary Alex Azar and National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien that said their task force meetings are unclassified and held in the White House Situation Room, but Reuters' original story was not about the task force.
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• "We stand by our story," a Reuters spokesperson said Thursday.

Key background: According to the original Reuters report, staffers without high-security clearances were excluded from the classified meetings, even virtual ones using video conferencing. This had the domino effect of preventing information from being shared, and therefore possibly slowing the Trump administration's response to the crisis. As of Friday morning, American life has been significantly disrupted. Cancelations of concerts, sports leagues, festivals, religious gatherings and other large events have impacted millions of people. At least 135 colleges have so far canceled in-person classes. On Wednesday night, President Trump announced a 30 day travel ban from Europe (excluding the U.K. and Ireland) that sent airlines and travelers scrambling to adjust. Meanwhile, Congress is in conflicted talks over a coronavirus relief bill that may not pass this week, while New York and other state governments begin to implement bans on large gatherings to stem the spread of disease.

News peg: Over the last few months, coronavirus⁠-officially named COVID-19⁠-has spread quickly from Wuhan, China to the rest of the world, with Italy, Iran and South Korea dealing with the most severe outbreaks outside of China. According to the New York Times, more than 135,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide and nearly 5,000 have died as of Friday. Critics have slammed the Trump administration's response to the outbreak, accusing Trump of downplaying the threat of the virus, and flubbing his national address on the crisis, while the administration has faced heat for creating botched test kits and then being too slow in making working kits available.

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