The mask was also a visible manifestation of government action, and Trump would never vindicate government action. Also, it wasn’t his idea. If it had been Trump’s idea, he might very well have accepted it. He could have red masks embossed with “Make America Great Again.”
New York was the first state to seriously advocate for masks, which made it a Democratic idea and so political paralysis set in immediately. It was frustrating to know that such a simple thing could make such a big difference but had been mired in this hyper-political environment. Everyone now had access to masks. Why wouldn’t you wear one? It required so little, and you had so much to gain.
We did everything we could to publicize the benefit of masks. I wanted to make mask wearing “cool.” My daughter Mariah led a PSA mask contest, and the winner’s ad would run on television.
Mariah has my drive and functionality. She is purposeful and directed, creative and talented. She is a social media guru with a great public relations sense. She watches social media during the day and sends me texts alerting me to information I need to know and suggesting responses and strategies. I get a kick out of how protective Mariah is of me and how offended she becomes at hostile tweets or negative posts. I know how she feels because I felt the same way with my father. But the tweets only hurt me because they hurt Mariah.
We had celebrities like Chris Rock and Rosie Perez do PSAs for mask wearing. Morgan Freeman, the voice of God, did a PSA. I was especially interested in getting younger people to wear them. Social media and advertising could help there. A mask should be emblematic of intelligent social action. We tried to appeal to people’s better angels: I wear a mask out of respect and caring for you, and you wear a mask out of respect and caring for me.
Overall the initiative worked very well. We estimated 97 percent of the population was complying with the mask order. We didn’t mandate masks be worn all the time, only in public if you couldn’t socially distance and if you were going to come within six feet of a person. I thought that was entirely reasonable. Even as the numbers grew worse and other states started to spike, it was incredible how few states mandated masks. Republican governors were in a difficult position because they didn’t want to offend Trump. Trump was doing rallies with thousands of people, and few wore a mask. Herman Cain, a onetime presidential candidate and Trump supporter, would tragically die five weeks after attending one of those rallies maskless. I can only imagine the number of unnamed supporters who attended those rallies who met the same fate. In the midst of this, the White House was showing evidence of a split personality. Vice President Pence said people should wear a mask, and Trump’s CDC and FDA commissioners said people should wear a mask. But the president would have none of it.
What was the conversation when Trump was with his health advisers? Did any one of them say, “Mr. President, you should be wearing a mask”? Or did the president say to them, “Don’t tell people to wear a mask”? I find it inconceivable that such a situation could even exist.
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I NEVER BLAMED the president for not having enough ventilators in the national stockpile. However, he took my comments factually stating that there was a national shortage as a personal attack. And I understood full well the difficulty in procuring ventilators in the midst of a global shortage. What I did not expect was that FEMA, the main federal operating agency that can help states, would offer assistance, only to make the situation worse by involving us in a scam.
When we contacted FEMA on the issue of ventilator procurement, they directed us to a company that would sell us ventilators for immediate delivery. FEMA did not offer to pay for the ventilators, but they would facilitate the procurement. We thanked them for their help and contracted with the company they recommended.
The price that the company was charging for ventilators was outrageous. Each ventilator would cost on average more than $59,000. The pre-pandemic price of a ventilator was $15,000. But we believed lives were on the line and understood we had few alternatives.
We agreed to the terms and signed an $86 million contract requiring a $69 million pre-payment with Yaron Oren-Pines’s company for delivery of 1,450 ventilators. Detecting possible fraud, banks in the United States and China froze the funds. At the same time, Oren-Pines began to warn of delivery complications and failed to arrange required inspections. We moved to cancel the contract and recovered $59 million. Not a single ventilator was delivered. To date we are in the midst of legal action to recoup the remaining $10 million, and law enforcement is reviewing the matter for possible prosecution.
I have a top-flight team to protect every tax dollar. We wear a lapel pin I designed that has three hallmark principles: Performance, Integrity, Pride. The integrity protection team includes my counsel, Kumiki Gibson, special counsel Judy Mogul, and inspector general Letizia Tagliafierro. Kumiki is a top-shelf Harvard lawyer whom I met when she was counsel to Vice President Al Gore. Judy is a former federal prosecutor who practiced privately and is as sharp as they come. Letizia is a former assistant district attorney who worked with me in the attorney general’s office; as the state inspector
