Pelosi Urges Americans to Ignore Trump and Listen to Scientists, Says President Caused 'Unnecessary Deaths'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has urged Americans to ignore President Donald Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic and instead rely on the opinions of scientists and experts.

Pelosi made the remarks in a letter sent to House Democrats on Tuesday. The speaker says she had used the Easter weekend to reflect on the "unbearably sad time" the country is now facing due to the pandemic. The letter urged Americans to "insist on the truth" and included a list of ways she believes Trump failed in his response to the virus.

"The truth is that in January Donald Trump was warned about this pandemic, ignored those warnings, took insufficient action and caused unnecessary death and disaster," Pelosi wrote.

"[He] is a weak person, a poor leader, takes no responsibility. A weak person blames others," she added. "From this moment on, Americans must ignore lies and start to listen to scientists and other respected professionals in order to protect ourselves and our loved ones."

The letter also accused Trump of dismantling infrastructure he inherited from the Obama administration that was intended to respond to a pandemic, failing to take the steps necessary to ensure health care workers have adequate amounts of personal protective equipment (PPE) and telling his supporters "that the pandemic was a hoax and that it would magically disappear."

In addition to the public health impacts, Pelosi blamed Trump's decisions for "paving the way for economic disaster," noting that the pandemic has caused many Americans financial hardship.

She asked her fellow Democratic lawmakers to make sure they are "acting from the truth" as they promote efforts to ramp up coronavirus testing, provide additional PPE to essential workers and increase supplies of equipment like ventilators to hospitals.

Trump has repeatedly pushed back against criticism of his response to the health crisis, praising his own actions and leadership while insisting that China is to blame for the pandemic. The U.S. leads the world in COVID-19 cases, with over 600,000 as of Tuesday, including more than 26,000 deaths and almost 39,000 recoveries.

"The Speaker has clearly forgotten that President Trump has taken bold, aggressive action for months against COVID-19 while she instead focused on a sham impeachment, ripped up the President's State of the Union address, encouraged people to 'come to Chinatown' as the virus was spreading, for no good reason held up critically needed economic relief payments for hardworking Americans, and is still playing politics over much-needed money for small businesses," White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said in a statement to Newsweek.

"The Speaker should stop lying and pay attention to the facts," he added.