Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) threatened to fight Donald Trump Jr., President Trump's son, after he suggested Democrats want the Coronavirus to spread and have a devastating effect in order to hurt his father's chances of winning reelection.
"The play book is old at this point, but for them to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here, and kills millions of people so that they could end Donald Trump’s streak of winning is a new level of sickness," Trump Jr. told Fox News on Friday.
MSNBC's Hallie Jackson asked for Garamendi to respond to Trump Jr.'s comments.
"He should not be near me when he says that," Garamendi replied, prompting Jackson to ask why.
"There would be a serious altercation. That’s totally outrageous. That is totally outrageous. I can assure you there’s not a Democrat or Republican in Congress that wants anybody to be sick," Garamendi said.
"What we are concerned about is the administration’s response to this illness. We have known since December that there was an epidemic in China. We have known since that time there were Americans that were exposed to this in Wuhan and other parts of China. We know there was a Princess cruise ship with high exposure, and cases in Japan," he continued, adding, "We know there’s community spread in my district. I know there’s an individual that’s very sick. Don Jr., better not get anyplace close to me. It would not be a healthy situation."
According to the Center for Disease Control, as of February 28, there are 58 countries and territories across the world with confirmed cases of COVID-19. The CDC has said to expect and prepare for local outbreaks to occur within the United States, which could cause "serious" disruptions to everyday life.