Demands slowing down COVID testing to reduce case numbers

At his first campaign rally since the pandemic began, held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump told supporters he instructed his administration to "slow the testing down" because increased testing revealed more cases. "When you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people, you're going to find more cases," he said. While White House aides claimed he was joking, Trump later confirmed, "I don't kid." The rally itself was a potential superspreader event, held indoors with few masks despite rising local cases.

"I said to my people, 'Slow the testing down, please.'" — Tulsa campaign rally, June 20, 2020