Amid criticism that President Trump isn't taking the coronavirus pandemic seriously enough, the FEMA director Sunday refused to provide any details about incoming medical supplies.
"They're shipping today, they shipped yesterday, they'll ship tomorrow," Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Peter Gaynor said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday.
But when pressed for specifics, Gaynor hedged.
"I mean, it is hundreds of thousands of millions of things that we're shipping from the stockpile. I can't give you the details about what every single state of what every single city is doing," he said.
"But I'm telling you that we are shipping from our national stockpile, we're shipping from vendors, we're shipping from donations. It is happening. The demand is great."
Gaynor used similarly vague language on CNN's "State of the Union," calling it a "dynamic and fluid operation."
"I can't give you a rough number," he told host Jake Tapper. "I can tell you that it's happening every day. My mission is operational coordination of all these things and that's my focus. Whether it's supplies, vents, you name it, we're finding it, identifying it, and shipping it to those who have requested it."
Gaynor also defended President Trump's refusal to use the Defense Protection Act, which he has invoked, but not yet ordered companies to begin manufacturing medical supplies.
"It really is leverage, I think, to demonstrate that we can use it," he said on "State of the Union."
Many states, including New York, have already warned of a supply shortage of materials including N95 masks and ventilators.
Mayor de Blasio said Sunday that New York City is about "10 days away" from seeing widespread shortages of critical supplies.
President Trump suggested Saturday that medical professionals "sanitize" their masks and reuse them, contradicting guidance from the US Food and Drug Administration.
