A former US White House advisor has said President Trump didn’t want to bring back some US citizens from China after they had contracted COVID.
Olivia Troye worked in the Office of the Vice President and served as an aide to the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
She left in the summer saying Americans should vote against Trump and she has called on Republicans to put their country before the party.
In her first interview with Irish media, Olivia Troye spoke exclusively with Damien Tiernan on WLR and recalled times earlier in the year when the US was evacuating citizens from the then epicentre of the virus outbreak, Wuhan in China.
She told the Deise Today presenter that she saw the President get upset when they were bringing Americans home when they were stuck in Wuhan in China because he didn’t want the case numbers in the US to go up.
“I can’t imagine what it would be like for a US citizen to be stuck somewhere and know that your own President has decided that you don’t matter to him - that he doesn’t want to bring you home,” she said.
She described this episode as frightening and not what the US is supposed to be about.
“I was there when he got angry, when he asked ‘why did you bring those infected people back?’” said Olivia.
Since leaving the White House, Olivia Troye said she has received hate mail from Trump supporters and that she has been worried about her family, her safety and the safety of those around her.
She said making the decision to leave the administration was a hard one for her as she had played a critical role in the Health Task Force, that she had felt very strongly about supporting the mission, that she was worried for her colleagues she was leaving behind in that she was concerned about who would have the backs of the doctors and the various agencies.
She spoke about how Republicans have ‘come after her for her speaking out’ and to her critics she said at some point they have to make the moral choice and put their country first over the party, reiterating her belief that there is a difference between being a Republican and being a Trump Republican.
The former homeland security official appealed directly to Republicans to join her and ‘Republicans Against Trump’ and leave the Trump platform which she said caters for white supremacy and the far-right, adding that many Republicans are probably ashamed at their own behaviour within the party.
And she asked Americans living in Ireland and other countries to vote for Biden: “When you are voting in this election, you are voting for your own well-being in life and that this is a moment like no other, and that it has to be country-over-party; it’s so critical.”
She said it’s dangerous to go down the road the US President is advocating and that Donald Trump has been extremely dangerous to the US national security apparatus.
Meanwhile, if you want to listen to the full Deise Today from this morning, please click below....
