Trump Attacks Columbia University For Study Showing Inaction Caused More Death: ‘Liberal, Disgraceful Institution’

“Columbia is a liberal, disgraceful institution to write that because all the people that they cater to were months after me, they said we shouldn’t close it,” Trump said during an interview with Sharyl Attkisson posted on her personal website on Sunday.

The Columbia study — which was first reported by the New York Times Wednesday — received widespread attention as the U.S. searches for answers for why it became the hardest hit country in the world, with case numbers eclipsing 1.6 million and the death toll approaching 100,000. 

Trump has been personally blamed for not acting sooner in his response to the virus,  ignoring key indications the virus was raging inside the U.S. before the government acted.

In response, the president routinely points to his decision to restrict travel from China at the end of January; “When I ban China from coming in, first time anything like that ever happened, I took tremendous heat,” he said during the interview Sunday. 

But critics argue the president didn’t do enough to help states ramp up testing or encourage governors to implement restrictions; states first began imposing stay-at-home orders and lockdowns on March 19, when there were around 9,100 cases, and Trump didn’t issue guidelines suggesting Americans limit gathering of ten or more people until March 16.

The Columbia study — which used statistical models to make its estimates — also found around 54,000 coronavirus-linked deaths in the U.S. could have been avoided by early May if states issued coronavirus restrictions on March 1.