McEnany hits back at Hogan after Maryland governor slams Trump over coronavirus

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Maryland Gov. Hogan says Trump left state vulnerable to the pandemic, WH calls comments ‘striking’

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan says Trump left the state vulnerable to the pandemic, in a Washington Post op-ed; White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany says the comments are a ‘revisionist history’ by the state’s leader.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany slammed Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s remarks in a Washington Post op-ed about President Trump’s shortcomings during the coronavirus pandemic, calling it “revisionist history” and pointing to the governor's past praise of Trump.

“It's really striking, his comments, especially when you compare them to his past comments,” said the press secretary during a briefing Thursday.

“This is revisionist history by Governor Hogan and it stands in stark contrast to what he said on March 19 where he praised the great communication that the president has had with governors,” McEnany added, noting that Hogan has in the past praisedTrump’s coronavirus response. In April, Hogan praised the administration's guidelines for reopening.

In an attempt to smooth things over with the president he's not been afraid to criticize, Hogan in April wrote a letter to Trump praising "the continued coordination” between the federal and state governments.

MARYLAND GOV. WALKS BACK TRUMP CRITICISM OVER CORONAVIRUS TESTING 

But the Republican leader detailed in his op-ed having to buy half a million coronavirus tests from the South Korean government in a deal brokered in part by his wife, a native to the country. He said he hid them from the federal government to avoid them being seized for use in another state, as was the case with 3 million N95 masks stockpiled in Massachusetts.

“This should not have been necessary,” Hogan wrote. “Eventually, it was clear that waiting around for the president to run the nation’s response was hopeless; if we delayed any longer, we’d be condemning more of our citizens to suffering and death.”

GOV. HOGAN RESPONDS TO CRITICISM FROM TRUMP OVER TESTING 

Meanwhile, Hogan said that at a dinner in early February with President Trump, Trump said he didn’t like dealing with South Korean President Moon Jae In and called the South Koreans “terrible people.”

“While other countries were racing ahead with well-coordinated testing regimes, the Trump administration bungled the effort,” Hogan continued. He said tests early on were fraught with “inaccuracies and onerous regulations.”

“Meanwhile, instead of listening to his own public health experts, the president was talking and tweeting like a man more concerned about boosting the stock market or his reelection plans,” the governor wrote.

In late March, the Republican governor called Trump’s claim that testing was widely available “just not true.” When Trump vowed to reopen the country by Easter, Hogan said that would be “very harmful” and Maryland “would obviously not do that.”

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But Hogan later walked back that criticism. "I can tell you, I chair the nation's governors and the administration's doing a great job of communicating with all of us, and I think they've been stepping up and doing a much better job," Hogan told Fox News' Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum in early May.