They’re Coming for Your Gas Stoves and They’ve Already Started

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They’re Coming for Your Gas Stoves and They’ve Already Started

(Jenny Beth Martin, RealClear Wire) First they declared they were coming for our natural gas stoves; then, after a firestorm of opposition erupted, they denied it. Don’t believe the denial. They’re definitely coming for our gas stoves – just like they came for our dishwashers, our shower heads, our toilets and our gasoline-powered cars before them.

The latest blowup occurred last week, when a commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Richard Trumka Jr., told Bloomberg News his agency was considering proposing a ban on gas stoves.

“This is a hidden hazard,” said Trumka. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”

Trumka’s stated “safety” concern is not that gas stoves are unsafe because they remain hot (and can, therefore, cause burns) for quite some time after being turned off – that’s a problem unique to electric range tops – but that they can create indoor air pollution, which can lead to asthma, especially in children.

The Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t see it that way. “Gas stoves (and gas fireplace inserts) do not require EPA certification,” says the EPA. “Whether designed to burn natural gas or propane, they burn very cleanly, emitting very little pollution.”

Nor does the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood, which found “no evidence of an association between the use of gas as a cooking fuel and either asthma symptoms or asthma diagnosis.”

If the CPSC isn’t really concerned about the pollution aspect of cooking with natural gas – and it’s not – what is the agency’s real problem? Simple: natural gas itself, because natural gas is a fossil fuel, and you can’t allow the continued use of fossil fuels if you’re determined to shift everything to electricity. Yes, that’s right, the bureaucracy of the CPSC, better known for annually blowing up mannequins before the Fourth of July to warn the public of the dangers of improper use of fireworks, has entered its bid to join the Green Army.

The move against gas stoves is only the most recent Biden Administration move against natural gas. A month ago, the Energy Department proposed banning federal buildings from using fossil fuels.

Yet the feds are late to the game on the switch-out-the-natural-gas-for-electricity front. Across the nation, more than 100 progressive municipalities and states have taken steps to “require or encourage the move off fossil fuels to all-electric homes and buildings,” according to the Rocky Mountain Institute, a progressive think tank pushing a green energy agenda.

For instance, the New York City Council decided in 2021 to prohibit natural gas hookups in new buildings smaller than seven stories, beginning at the end of 2023; larger buildings will be given an additional four years to come into compliance. California’s Air Resources Board unanimously approved a proposal last September to ban the sale of all new natural gas-fired furnaces and water-heating appliances by the end of this decade.

In November, Montgomery County, Maryland, became the first county on the East Coast to ban fossil fuels from almost all newly-constructed buildings, with the ban to go into effect by 2026. And New York Governor Kathy Hochul last week called for “the nation’s most aggressive ban on fossil fuels in new buildings,” according to Energy Wire, urging her state’s legislators to “phase out the sale of fossil fuel heating equipment in existing residential buildings beginning in 2030 and in 2035 in commercial ones. The governor also proposed requiring new residential and commercial buildings to be all-electric by 2025 and 2030, respectively.”

The gas-stove grabbers are employing a carrot-AND-stick approach – subsidies (in the form of tax credits, particularly a federal tax rebate of up to $840 for the purchase of a new electric range, found in the absurdly named Inflation Reduction Act) to induce the less determined/more easily swayed gas-stove lovers to give up the gas and make the switch, combined with coercion (in the form of regulations, restrictions, and outright bans) to force the more resistant/less easily swayed gas-stove lovers to give them up and make the switch.

According to Trumka, the CPSC plans to ask for public comment on the “hazards” posed by gas stoves later this year. That will be our opportunity to let Biden and his bureaucrats know what we think of their plan to take away our gas stoves, our chance to follow the advice of Ronald Reagan, who is reputed to have said – aptly, for an argument about gas stoves – “When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.”

Biden Admin. Finally Admits Its Mistake in Canceling Keystone XL Pipeline

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Biden Admin. Finally Admits Its Mistake in Canceling Keystone XL Pipeline

(Tom Harris, RealClear Wire) At long last, the Biden administration is admitting what experts have always known: reckless energy policies have disastrous consequences. This time, the Department of Energy quietly released a report highlighting the positive economic benefits of developing the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, an energy project canceled by President Biden in the hours following his inauguration.

But the DOE’s report is a proverbial day late and a dollar short. The cancelation of the Keystone XL pipeline has already cost the United States thousands of jobs and billions in economic growth while families suffer under the weight of record high energy prices. It’s time for lawmakers to make American energy independence a top priority.

Released without a formal announcement, the DOE’s report points out that the pipeline would have created between 16,149 and 59,000 jobs and would have had an economic benefit of between $3.4 and 9.6 billion. That’s no small impact. Yet with one stroke of his pen, Biden slashed the project and instead focused his efforts on costly “green energy” goals. As a result of his executive action, 11,000 pipeline workers were promptly laid off and told to “go to work to make solar panels” instead.

But Biden’s green energy efforts are bound to backfire sooner rather than later. That’s because today, more than 70% of the energy produced and consumed in America comes from oil, gas and coal. That’s not likely to substantially change anytime soon. In fact, the International Energy Agency predicts that oil’s share of energy production in the United States will only fall 8% in the next two decades, from 31 to 23 percent. And that’s assuming a sustained commitment to green energy policies. The forecast spells bad news for the Biden White House. At his political peril, Biden ignores the lessons of Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush, who both lost elections due to spiked oil prices and accompanying recessions.

Two years into sowing its Green New Deal policies, the administration is reaping a bitter harvest. Due to Biden’s folly, oil, natural gas and electricity prices have more than doubled in just a single year. Meanwhile, more than 28% of Americans abstained from purchasing food or medicine to pay an energy bill in 2021. And now, the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act includes wind and solar spending that will cost Americans $369 billion.

If the president and his Democratic allies in Congress refuse to heed lessons from the past, they have a rare opportunity to view an even more desperate future of what will certainly come to pass by staying on the same irresponsible course.

Conditions in Europe serve as a timely warning of that future. European leaders are years ahead of the United States in their quest towards achieving a green utopia, but they’ve seen little success. In Germany, the situation has gotten so desperate that candle sales are skyrocketing as families anticipate power outages in the dead of winter. Some German villages are being ploughed over to make way for digging brown coal, a step necessitated by Germany’s misguided overcommitment to wind and solar power. These desperate measures might help but are insufficient to protect the vulnerable.

Europe’s obsession with green energy and overreliance on Russian gas have resulted in energy cost increases so severe that 147,000 more people are projected to die this winter from cold-related illness than if electricity prices had remained at the 2015-2019 average.

Despite this, in Finland, electric car owners are being told not to warm up their vehicles on cold mornings to avoid putting unnecessary strain on the nation’s failing electricity grid. The United Kingdom takes the prize for dystopian power-saving measures, where families are being bribed to sit in the dark in exchange for electric bill savings and other prizes. If the United States follows in Europe’s green footsteps, it risks ushering in a similarly dark, cold and dismal existence.

American families deserve better. The problem is that the Biden administration is waging unrelenting war on energy producers and sabotaging American energy production in pursuit of a green energy pipedream. Our nation has the resources and the technology to produce energy for all our needs. Lawmakers must recommit themselves to the goal of an abundant energy future that brings prosperity and fuels dreams in America’s communities.

Musk: Dems May ‘Weaponize’ Agencies against Twitter to Prevent Trump Return

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Musk: Dems May ‘Weaponize’ Agencies against Twitter to Prevent Trump Return

(Headline USA) Twitter CEO Elon Musk predicted on Wednesday that the Biden administration might “weaponize” federal agencies against Twitter to keep former President Donald Trump from returning to the platform.

Responding to a report that Trump is planning to get back on Twitter now that his account has been reinstated, Musk said, “Will be interesting to see how the Biden administration reacts to this. They may try to weaponize federal agencies against Twitter.”

NBC News reported that Trump’s team is plotting his return to social media, sending a letter to Facebook’s parent company, Meta, last week asking for Trump’s reinstatement.

“We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” Trump’s team wrote, adding that the former president would be happy to host a “meeting to discuss President Trump’s prompt reinstatement to the platform.”

Trump’s team has also begun drafting tweets for the former president.

“Trump is probably coming back to Twitter. It’s just a question of how and when,” a source familiar with Trump’s thinking told NBC News. “He’s been talking about it for weeks, but Trump speaks for Trump, so it’s anyone’s guess what he’ll do or say or when.”

Though the Biden administration has not publicly commented on Musk’s reinstatement of Trump’s Twitter account, administration officials have been privately worried about the matter for months.

“Now, Trump will use Twitter to do far more damage to regain power in 2022 and 2024 while Elon Musk has given no indication that he will do anything to stop him,” Mary Anne Marsh, a veteran Democratic strategist, told CNBC.

Trump, for his part, has not confirmed whether he plans to return to Twitter. He previously dismissed the idea of going back to the platform, saying he would stick with his own social media platform, Truth Social.

“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH,” Trump told Fox News last year. “I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH.”

Davos Panel Predicts U.S. Will Soon Implement ‘Illegal Hate Speech’ Laws

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Davos Panel Predicts U.S. Will Soon Implement ‘Illegal Hate Speech’ Laws

(Headline USA) Elite world leaders at the World Economic Forum predicted the U.S. will soon implement “illegal hate speech laws” to crack down on “disinformation.”

Vera Jourova, the vice president for “values and transparency” for the European Union, said during a Tuesday panel at the Davos Summit that the U.S. is not far behind other Western nations in its plans to crack down on “hate speech.”

“What qualifies as hate speech, as illegal hate speech, which you will have soon also in the U.S.,” she said, directing her comments to fellow panelist Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass. “I think that we have a strong reason why we have this in the criminal law, we need the platforms to simply work with the language and to identify such cases.”

At one point, Moulton agreed that Europe is “way ahead of us” on data regulation, though he claimed he believes “very strongly in free speech.”

“There is a healthy concern in the United States that you might be going a little too far,” he said to Jourova.

Another panelist, New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger, claimed disinformation is an “existential” threat to society.

Brian Stelter, the failed CNN host who was ousted from the network last year, moderated the panel.

The WEF recently called for a “Global Framework to Regulate Harm Online.”

The EU’s European Commission plans to roll out its own form of this policy, called the “Code of Practice on Disinformation,” later this month. The policy sets up “commitments for participating platforms and industry leaders to counter online disinformation,” according to reports. Twitter, Google, Microsoft and TikTok have already signed onto the plan.

Boebert: Kamala Is Biden’s ‘Insurance’ against GOP Impeachment

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Boebert: Kamala Is Biden’s ‘Insurance’ against GOP Impeachment

(Headline USA) Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said this week that the only reason Republicans will not seek President Joe Biden’s impeachment is because they don’t want Vice President Kamala Harris in the White House.

“Joe Biden has failed the American people, and he’s keeping some members from calling for impeachment by having a historically unpopular vice president,” Boebert said, according to Fox News.

“Kamala Harris is Biden’s shrewd insurance policy,” she continued. “Joe Biden has failed the American people, and he’s keeping some members from calling for impeachment by having a historically unpopular vice president.”

Boebert’s comments come as Biden faces an investigation into his mishandling of classified documents during his time in the Obama administration.

Some of the documents found in Biden’s Washington, D.C., think-tank and Delaware home included intelligence and briefing materials on “topics including Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom,” according to CNN.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate the documents, giving him the authority to prosecute any wrongdoing if necessary.

House Republicans have introduced several articles of impeachment against Biden over the past two years, citing his failed military withdrawal from Afghanistan and disastrous handling of the border crisis, among other issues.

“His willful negligence of the border crisis is a failure to maintain and defend American sovereignty,” said Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, in 2021.

He also called out Biden’s disregard for the rule of law—most notably, at the time, in his refusal to enforce a Supreme Court ruling that would have promptly ended a pandemic-related pause on rent payments for those facing economic hardship.

“Biden’s attempts to extend a federal eviction moratorium despite the Supreme Court’s warning and his own admission that he has no power to do so is a blatant and intentional action that violates the separation of powers​,” Gibbs said.

“Finally, the withdrawal from Afghanistan was not just a disaster,” Gibbs added. “By pulling military personnel out before the evacuation of American civilians, President Biden shamefully left our own citizens in danger.”

Boebert said both Biden and Harris deserve to be impeached.

“Both have failed to faithfully uphold and execute the law, and both should be held fully accountable,” she said.

It is unlikely that either would clear the bar for removal given the Senate’s Democratic majority, although speculation has run rampant that the discovery of Biden’s classified documents might have been engineered by those within his own party who wish to see him dispatched politically prior to the 2024 election.

Alec Baldwin Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter for ‘Rust’ Shooting

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Alec Baldwin Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter for ‘Rust’ Shooting

(Headline USA) Alec Baldwin was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.

New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced the charges Thursday morning, more than a year after Hutchins’ death.

“Every person that handles a gun has a duty to make sure that if they’re going to handle that gun, point it at someone and pull the trigger that it is not going to fire a projectile and kill someone,” she said. “An actor does not get a free pass just because they are an actor. That is what is so important. We are saying here in New Mexico, that everyone is equal under the law.”

Carmack-Altwies said the investigation into the Rust shooting revealed there were live rounds mixed in with dummy rounds, and crews were not checking ammunition regularly. Baldwin had the responsibility to check his gun’s rounds, she said.

“He didn’t check it. He didn’t do any of things he was supposed to do to make sure that he was safe or that anyone around him was safe,” she said.

If Baldwin is convicted, he could face up to 18 months in prison.

In a statement, Baldwin’s attorney called the charges a “terrible miscarriage of justice.”

“This decision distorts Halyna Hutchins’ tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice,” Luke Nikas, Baldwin’s attorney, said. “Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun – or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win.”

Hutchin’s family thanked the district attorney and sheriff’s office after the charges were announced.

“We want to thank the Santa Fe Sheriff and the District Attorney for concluding their thorough investigation and determining that charges for involuntary manslaughter are warranted for the killing of Halyna Hutchins with conscious disregard for human life,” they said in a statement.

Gov’t Watchdog: HHS Dept. Lacks Oversight of Gain-of-Function Research

Ken Silva
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Gov’t Watchdog: HHS Dept. Lacks Oversight of Gain-of-Function Research

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Government Accountability Office released a scathing report Wednesday about the Department of Health and Human Services’ shoddy handling of gain-of-function research, finding that HHS “does not fully meet the key elements of effective oversight.”

Gain-of-function research entails scientists developing more dangerous versions of diseases in order to study them. The practice has been criticized by some public officials and scientists, who have called for congressional investigations into whether gain-of-function research spurred the Covid-19 pandemic.

The GAO’s report comes as the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is set to investigate the origins of Covid 19—a probe that will include looking at the federal government’s funding of gain-of-function research.

The GAO, a federal agency designed to provide Congress with non-partisan research, noted in its report that the U.S. government paused funding for gain-of-function research in 2014. At the same time, the U.S. government embarked on a process to re-evaluate the risks and benefits of gain-of-function research and to develop policies to govern the funding and oversight of such research.

HHS established such oversight procedures in 2017. New rules included a requirement for the HHS to conduct a departmental review if proposed research is “reasonably anticipated to create, transfer or use enhanced potential pandemic pathogens.”

However, the GAO noted that the HHS did not articulate a standard for what “reasonably anticipated” means.

“Until HHS develops and documents such a standard, the Framework allows for subjective and potentially inconsistent interpretations of the requirement—leaving HHS without assurance the department is reviewing all necessary research proposals,” the GAO stated.

The GAO also criticized the HHS for its lack of transparency about its oversight process. There is no public information about who is involved in the oversight of gain-of-function research, according to the GAO.

The HHS told GAO researchers that they keep the identities of those involved in oversight confidential for safety reasons.

“For example, HHS officials told us that agency staff have faced threats to their personal safety related to their perceived involvement in gain-of-function research. Given the heightened concern about the risks posed by this type of research, and the safety of scientists, officials told us that there is a need to balance protection of personal vulnerabilities and transparency,” the GAO report said.

The GAO report acknowledged the HHS’s concern about identifying its personnel involved in gain-of-function oversight, but urged the health department to share non-sensitive information such as the composition and expertise of those involved in the oversight process.

“By working with funding agencies to identify and share non-sensitive information about the composition of the review group—such as the qualifications or expertise of those who are involved in the review process—researchers, Congress and the public would have greater assurance that individuals with the appropriate expertise are conducting reviews of research involving enhanced potential pandemic pathogens,” the GAO recommended.

In response to the report, HHS officials neither agreed nor disagreed with the GAO’s recommendations.

Melanie Anne Egorin, the HHS’s assistant secretary for legislation, told the GAO that the department “is committed to ensuring that it carefully reviews, considers, and incorporates guidance to increase transparency in the oversight of funding for research involving enhanced potential pandemic pathogens.”

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Youngkin Rejects $3.5B Ford Plant Due to China Concerns

Molly Bruns
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Youngkin Rejects $3.5B Ford Plant Due to China Concerns

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin rejected a deal with Ford Motor Company to build a $3.5 billion battery plant in his state due to concerns over the company’s relationship with China.

According to the Daily Wire, the plant in southern Virginia’s Pittsylvania County would have manufactured batteries for electric vehicles and employed an estimated 2,500 people.

“We felt that the right thing to do was to not recruit Ford as a front for China to America,” Youngkin, a Republican, said last week after delivering his State of the Commonwealth speech to the General Assembly.

Chinese company Contemporary Amperex Technology partnered with Ford in the venture.

A statement from Youngkin’s office made it clear they investigated the matter and concluded the foreign partner’s connections with the Chinese Communist Party are too tight to welcome them into the state in good conscience.

“While Ford is an iconic American company, it became clear that this proposal would serve as a front for the Chinese Communist party, which could compromise our economic security and Virginians’ personal privacy,” Youngkin spokesperson Macaulay Porter said in a statement. “When the potentially damaging effects of the deal were realized, the plant proposal never reached a final discussion stage.”

Democrats were furious with Youngkin for rejecting the deal and accused him of playing up China as “the enemy” to further his political ambitions.

“To deny [people in the community] jobs because you’re in last place in Republican presidential primaries [is] gubernatorial malpractice,” said state Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax. “I mean, this is clearly just obvious to me that the governor’s in some kind of out-China-bashing-contest with [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis and Governor Greg Abbott out of Texas.”

Youngkin did not address these comments, nor has he indicated that he is planning for a 2024 presidential run.

The rejection of this deal is a distinct separation between Youngkin and his predecessor, Terry McAuliffe, who has longtime ties with China dating back to his role as a campaign-bundler for then-President Bill Clinton.

In 2009, McAuliffe collaborated teamed up with Hillary Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham, on GreenTech Automotive, a company claiming to manufacture eco-friendly vehicles that quickly folded after exploiting the Obama administration’s economic stimulus policies to fast-track Chinese investors for permanent-resident visas.

McAuliffe’s close ties with China also resulted in the notorious Chinagate scandal at the end of the Clinton presidency. In exchange for campaign donations, Chinese operatives allegedly gained access to confidential U.S. missile and satellite technology using the China-friendly Loral Space and Communications as its go-between.

Ford is considering building their new plant in Michigan after news of the rejection.

Hunter Biden Lived w/ Classified Docs while Addicted to Drugs, Receiving Cash from China

Ezekiel Loseke
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Hunter Biden Lived w/ Classified Docs while Addicted to Drugs, Receiving Cash from China

(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) Hunter Biden had access to the classified documents illegally stored by Joe Biden while he was addicted to drugs and receiving diamonds and cash from a Chinese power company connected to the Chinese Communist Party.

Joe Biden informed the world that the Obama-era classified documents illegally stored in his home were kept in the same garage as his Corvette, Fox News reported.

Moreover, photographs of Hunter Biden driving his father’s Corvette in 2017 were discovered in the laptop from hell, according to the Gateway Pundit.

In 2016, on a show called “Jay Leno’s Garage” Joe Biden told the former Tonight Show host that his sons had fixed up his classic Corvette, according to another Gateway Pundit article.

Hunter also listed the Wilmington home as his primary residence, on a background check, his Delaware driver’s license and a billing address for credit cards and his Apple account, according to Breitbart News.

According to Joe Biden—and confirmed by his son’s registration documents and photos of him driving a car stored there—Hunter Biden had access to the garage used to illegally store classified documents.

At the same time that he had access to the classified documents, Hunter was meeting with executives of a Chinese power company with direct ties to the Chinese government. Indeed, Hunter once described one of them as, “the f***ing spy chief of China.”

The company, known as CEFC, was tied to the Chinese government. “From the yellow stars in its logo to the fact it had China in its name—a privilege normally reserved for state-owned companies—CEFC China Energy’s messaging strongly suggested state ties,” CNN wrote in a 2018 article.

CEFC made several massive payments to Hunter Biden during this time:

  • In February of 2017, Hunter met with CEFC officials, who gifted him a diamond valued at $80,000.
  • Nine days later, Hunter received $6 million of wire transfers that were flagged as suspicious by the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
  • Hunter also directly received cash from CEFC.
  • Hunter was paid $1 million to serve as two CEFC official’s American lawyer.
  • The Biden family was gifted credit cards from CEFC officials, which they used to rack up a bill exceeding $100,000.

During this time, Hunter was addicted to cocaine, and suffering from blackouts and losses of large amounts of cash, according to a Substack post from independent journalist Michael Shellenberger.

“Hunter was intoxicated and having blackouts—and just feet away from classified documents—during period he was taking money from men tied to Chinese military intelligence,” he wrote.

Trump Doubles Down on Support for Vax, Claims He Saved 100M Lives

Jacob Bruns
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Trump Doubles Down on Support for Vax, Claims He Saved 100M Lives

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Former President Donald Trump risked alienating his conservative base by once again claiming that he saved millions of lives in pushing controversial gene-therapy experiments under the guise of COVID-19 vaccination.

Despite mounting evidence that shows the vaccine itself may have harmful side-effects including Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, Trump has repeatedly defended the jab, Newsweek reported.

Trump, whose administration pushed Operation Warp Speed, made the claim earlier this week on a Real America’s Voice segment called The Water Cooler.

Host David Brody asked the former president if he would acknowledge that the vaccines “were not as safe or effective as we were told by the medical community at the time.”

In response, Trump ignored the primary question, suggesting instead that he saved 100 million lives.

“I was able to get something approved that, you know, that has proven to have saved a lot of lives,” he said. “Some people say that I saved 100 million lives worldwide.”

Trump proceeded to note that he was “able to get [the vaccines] done in nine months,” rather than the more typical “five years to 12 years.”

When pressed later by Brody, Trump offered more nuance.

“You have to understand, there are the pros and cons,” he said.

“Some reports [say] that it’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened and we saved tens of millions of lives,” he added. “Then you’ll read other reports [that] say there were some problems with the vaccine…but relatively small numbers.”

Nonetheless, Trump made clear that, in his opinion, COVID was a potentially disastrous and very deadly disease that he and his administration curbed by ramming the jab through.

“Without the vaccines you would have had a thing…where perhaps 100 million people died,” he reiterated.

The former president did note, however, that he did not order federal lockdowns or vaccine mandates.

He further praised Republican governors who avoided lockdowns at the state level while sniping at Gov. Ron DeSantis for locking Florida down early in the pandemic.

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