BALTIMORE _ President Donald Trump singled out Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan during his White House coronavirus briefing Monday, saying Hogan "didn't really understand" an email sent by federal officials detailing current testing capacity in each state.
"Some of the governors, like, as an example, the governor from Maryland didn't really understand the list," Trump said, without using Hogan's name. "He didn't understand too much about what was going on so now I think he'll be able to do that."
Vice President Mike Pence said earlier Monday an email was sent to officials in each state detailing current testing capacity by state. But Hogan said much of the unused lab machinery listed for his state in the report was in federal labs that the state does not have access to. The Associated Press obtained audio of the call.
Hogan refuted Pence's statement, saying, "We already knew where the labs were."
During the media briefing, Trump said the list is "pretty simple" to understand and said the labs have "tremendous capacity."
"We hope to be able to help him (Hogan) out," the president said. "We'll work with him and work with all of the governors."
Hogan, speaking to CNN host Wolf Blitzer, said he wasn't sure what the president was talking about.
"I have a pretty good understanding of what's going on and I appreciate the information that was provided by his team," Hogan said during the interview. "But he wasn't there. I'm not sure what he was trying to say."
The Republican governor reiterated what he said earlier in the day during a news conference, that the list of labs provided by the federal government included many federal and military facilities that the state doesn't have access to.
Hogan has been critical of the federal government as the state worked to find and buy tests in absence of their help. On Monday, the governor announced that Maryland secured hundreds of thousands of coronavirus testing kits from South Korea.
He said in his CNN interview that governors have been looking for tests "wherever they can find it" domestically and internationally, after the president made clear that "the governors need to go out and get their own testing."
Pence agreed on the conference call to open federal labs to help states.
"When it comes to testing, we're here to help," Pence told governors during a video conference from the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Baltimore Sun reporter Luke Broadwater contributed to this article.
