Coronagate, The Dawn

It looks like Russiagate is going to continue to sputter along with a post here or there, but in the meantime, the Democrats have opened a new front in the war on the Trump presidency. Ace, Pelosi, Schiff Plot Third Coup Operation Against Trump

Honestly, Trump should actually test the limits of the Constitution by just flat-out refusing to deliver any witnesses or documents during this epidemic. Let the Supreme Court rule that officials managing the crisis must make themselves available constantly to participate in DNC electioneering efforts.

The team is back in action. On Thursday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the creation of the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis. The new panel will have the authority to investigate any aspect of the virus emergency and the Trump administration's handling of it.
Pelosi's announcement came a day after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff called for a 9/11-style independent commission to investigate "mistakes" in the virus response. Shortly after that, Schiff told the Washington Post that in Congress, House Democrats must investigate the Trump administration's handling of virus testing and the government's distribution of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers.
"We need to make sure there's no favoritism in terms of political allies, no discrimination against states or governors based on lack of presidential flattery," Schiff said, indicating the probe would be aimed squarely at President Trump.
...
Pelosi also gave Democrats room to go after Trump for whatever reason they choose. "The committee will be empowered to examine all aspects of the federal response to the coronavirus," she wrote. Among those powers, she added, will be the ability to "press to ensure that the federal response is based on the best possible science and guided by the nation's best health experts." That could mean just about anything.

Maybe we can have a 9/11-style investigation into why Nancy Pelosi urged citizens to come to Chinatown in the middle of an epidemic which was spread to the US via travelers from China.

Is Ace overstating it? Maybe, but not by much.  From Da Hill, Schiff drafting legislation to set up 9/11-style commission to review coronavirus response

Schiff did not give specifics regarding when the legislation will be dropped, but suggested it would be after Congress finishes the task at hand: mulling a series of stimulus packages aimed at alleviating the economic impact of the pandemic. Sources familiar with the legislation told NBC News the legislation is "very preliminary."

"We will need to delay the work of the commission until the crisis has abated to ensure that it does not interfere with the agencies that are leading the response," Schiff told The Washington Post. "But that should not prevent us from beginning to identify where we got it wrong and how we can be prepared for the next pandemic."

The administration has come under scrutiny in the past month for what critics call a late response to the virus. Critics have also pointed out that in 2018 the administration disbanded the National Security Council unit focused on pandemic preparedness.

Which of course, is a lie. Trump folded the unit, along with it's staff into another unit focused on diseases. It's even been debunked by WaPoo fact checker, Was the White House office for global pandemics eliminated?

One can see the dueling narratives here, neither entirely incorrect. The office — as set up by Obama — was folded into another office. Thus, one could claim the office was eliminated. But the staff slots did not disappear and at least initially the key mission of team remained a priority. So one can also claim nothing changed and thus Biden’s criticism is overstated.

Capt. Ed at Hot Air, Pelosi: We’re Launching A “Bipartisan” Select Committee To Oversee Coronavirus Response — Not Investigate It; Update: Briefing Envy?  WaFreeBee, Rep. James Clyburn, Who Touted Coronavirus As ‘Tremendous’ Political Opportunity, to Take Helm of Pandemic Oversight Committee

Pelosi said Thursday the committee would monitor the billions in federal money spent fighting the virus and would have subpoena power. House Republicans immediately expressed concern over Clyburn's participation, arguing that his March remarks indicate he is looking to use the pandemic as a pretext to advance Democratic policy goals.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) on Thursday said he is concerned by the choice. "[The committee] is concerning to me because Congressman Clyburn is the one who thought this crisis was an opportune time to restructure government," McCarthy said in a conference call with reporters. "That's not what we should be doing."

Never let a crisis go to waste. VDH, Victor Davis Hanson: Dems have 'weaponized' coronavirus crisis to push radical agenda.

And, of course, they have all the help they want from the media, Stacy McCain, MSNBC’s Doomsday Crisis Theme

Today, I watched MSNBC (so you don’t have to), and it is difficult to find the words to describe how bad their coverage is. What is obvious — if you could just stand to watch MSNBC for a few hours, you’d see it — is that they are invested in the idea that the coronavirus is the ultimate “Walls Closing In” moment that will doom Trump’s presidency. From this idea flows two basic themes in their coverage of the pandemic:

1. It’s a Doomsday Crisis that threatens to kill us all; and
2. BLAME TRUMP!

Never mind the blame game just now, the greater problem in MSNBC’s coverage is that they are so heavily invested in hyping up the severity of the pandemic that they ignore all contrary data. And if you are capable of doing basic arithmetic, contrary data is not hard to find.

Fox  Biden offers to call Trump at White House to stay relevant discuss coronavirus response strategy. Cleta Mitchell at Da Fed, The Real Coronavirus Chronology Shows Trump Was On Top Of It While Biden Was Mocking The Danger

On Jan. 30, the CDC confirmed publicly for the first time the person-to-person spread of Wuhan virus and applauded WHO’s decision. That day, the president created the White House Coronavirus Task Force to coordinate efforts regarding this new disease.

The next day, Jan. 31, the president declared coronavirus a U.S. public health emergency and issued the ban on travel between the United States and China. On that same day, the Senate voted on the production of additional documents in the impeachment trial of President Trump. Campaigning in Iowa that day, Biden criticized President Trump’s China travel ban, saying during an Iowa campaign event, “This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia.”

Ace, Obama Depleted the Nation's Strategic Reserve of Ventilators, Respirators, and Surgical Masks -- Stockpiled in Case of Bioweapon Attack or Pandemic -- and Then Refused to Restock the Reserve for 8 Years, Preferring to Spend on His Socialist Priorities

He also repeatedly sought to cut the CDC's budget -- again, I assume so that he could spend that money on socialist boondoggles.

The 2005 plan created the Strategic National Stockpile of medical supplies and equipment under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services and called for the distribution of supplies from six highly secured sites to state and local sites after a pandemic "surge." This Strategic National Stockpile is totally separate from the site in Dubai that the U.S. government uses for international distribution under the Foreign Assistance Act.
According to a Center for Disease Control report published after the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, 39 million N95 masks were initially distributed from the stockpile, followed by 59.5 million more in second wave. According to Johnson, the stockpile originally was about 100 million masks.
From April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, there were over 60 million cases of H1N1 requiring 274,304 hospitalizations and resulting in 12,469 deaths in the United States.
After the H1N1 virus slowed down in 2010, according to Johnson, "it was important to restock." That did not happen as the national stockpile budget focused on other priorities deemed higher.

Well, his cabin didn't leak when it didn't rain.