Connecticut governor says not to be distracted by ‘verbal hand grenades’ from Trump

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday said to not let “verbal hand grenades” from President Donald Trump distract from efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic as the state joins others in the region to work together on how to reopen their economies.

On Monday, Trump said during a White House briefing his authority is “total” and asserted he can override governors on their decision to reopen the economy. Lamont told CNN’s John Berman on “New Day” Trump’s remarks send a mixed message “compared to the unified voice of what the governors are trying to do” but added the messaging coming from the White House task force has gotten better.

“I tell you that the [Vice President Mike] Pence task force, we meet with them once or twice a week telephonically and they are much more responsive. The federal government is stepping up in terms of their messaging,” Lamont said, but added, “don’t let the verbal hand grenades from the President distract from a lot of other good work that’s going on.”

Lamont joined several East and West Coast governors in forming regional pacts on how to work together to reopen the economy in their states. On Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said his state along with Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island and Massachusetts each plan to name a public health and economic official to a regional working group. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he and the governors from Washington and Oregon will collaborate on their approach to getting back to business in “in a safe, strategic, responsible way.”

There are more than 582,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States and more than 23,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.