Trump taps emergency powers as virus relief plan proceeds
Associated PressWASHINGTON — Describing himself as a “wartime president” fighting an invisible enemy, President Donald Trump on Wednesday invoked rarely used emergency powers to marshal critical medical supplies against the coronavirus pandemic. Yet he seemed to minimize the urgency of the decision, later tweeting that he “only signed the Defense Production Act to combat the Chinese Virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future.” “Hopefully there will be no need,” he added, “but we are all in this TOGETHER!” The mixed messaging came as Trump took a series of other extraordinary steps to steady the nation, its day-to-day life suddenly and fundamentally altered. That’s an “absolute total worst case scenario,” Trump said. Trump likened the effort to the measures taken during World War II and said it would require national “sacrifice.” “It’s a war,” he said.