Batter Up! Trump Reportedly Consulted With Ex-Yankees Star Alex Rodriguez About COVID-19
President Donald Trump called up former Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez — and his fiancée, Jennifer Lopez — to get their thoughts on a national response to the coronavirus pandemic, multiple sources told ABC News.
The call from the Oval Office earlier this week was part of Trump’s ongoing outreach “speaking to business leaders and others about how the country is handling the pandemic,” tweeted ABC White House and Capitol Hill reporter Katherine Faulders.
Neither Rodriquez nor Lopez has a medical background.
The call - asking A-Rod for his thoughts - was part of Trump’s continued outreach across the country about the virus. Trump spent much of his week speaking to business leaders & others about how the country is handling the pandemic. https://t.co/UpH5zzKRcE
— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) March 28, 2020
A source close to Rodriguez said the conversation was “pleasant” but offered no other details. There was no discussion of A-Rod or Lopez taking an official position to combat COVID-19, sources told Faulder and ABC senior editorial producer John Santucci.
A source close to Rodriguez told @ABC the call with Trump was “pleasant” adding that Trump was seeking thoughts from ARod about the coronavirus response. Sources say there was no discussion of AROD or his fiancé Jennifer Lopez taking on any official effort.
— John Santucci (@Santucci) March 28, 2020
It’s unclear why Trump would seek feedback on a national health emergency from a former baseball player — particularly when he has top experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
It was particularly strange since Trump had slammed A-Rod after he contributed to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012. “Everything A-Rod touches turns bad,” Trump sniped then.
I started to get very worried about Mitt's chances when I heard that A-Rod donated to his campaign. Everything A-Rod touches turns bad.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2012
Earlier this month, Trump’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser, Jared Kushner, reached out to his brother’s father-in-law, who’s a physician, to crowd-source suggestions on Facebook on how to deal with COVID-19.
Trump critics were losing it on Twitter following the news:
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So @realDonaldTrump called a baseball player @AROD for advice abt what he thinks of his response to the Virus but ignores the Drs & Nurses begging 4 supplies & tells Cuomo he dsnt need all those Vents.. pic.twitter.com/u35lsoMhvM
— 🎀🌹🌸MOOKS🌸🌹🎀 (@GhostOfLuv3) March 28, 2020
Makes sense. Wait, no it doesn't. Not at all!
— Joe Burinskas (@BurinskasJoe) March 28, 2020
Oh, thank God. Was wondering when he was going to consult with Arod and Lopez. Can rest easy now.
— Ellen Dooley (@eljdooley) March 28, 2020
That sounds like something in a comedian's set. Then it's instantly stops being funny when I realize this is the actual truth. Like, how can this be happening? Are we in a parallel universe? Have the pod-people finally showed up?#WITAF pic.twitter.com/yBYjusl3bV
— DebbieDoesResist (@DebbieDeb1007) March 28, 2020
Why wouldn’t he at least call Derek Jeter?
— Justin Satzman (@jsatz23) March 28, 2020
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
