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On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump backed away from a vow made less than 24 hours earlier that the United States Very Soon would be able to test up to 5m people per day for coronavirus. He falsely contended that he never uttered those words. Trump informed reporters in the Oval Office and said, “Right now, they’re testing about 200,000 per day. So that would be a significant increase. The answer may be in the timeline and ultimately that might be possible but not in the near term.” On Tuesday, he called the question that prompted him to make the goal of the 5m tests remark a “media trap”. It was a new phrase he uses to describe reporters’ questions that he answers and gets himself into political hot water.

President Trump said, “I didn’t say it. Where did it come from? It’s sort of a setup.” On Wednesday morning a comment was merely the newest example of Trump making a bold claim one day. He said,  “We’re going to be there very soon. We’re really doing a great job on testing.” Trump informed reporters at the White House when asked if the US could get to 5 million tests a day. He also predicted on Tuesday afternoon that testing guidance he announced on Monday evening will allow his administration to increase it by much more than that in the very near future. He said, “We’re going to an even higher number.”

It is noteworthy that less than 24 hours later, Trump made clear getting anywhere close to 5 million tests administered each day won’t happen anytime soon, even as more and more states either begin reopening their economies or announce plans to soon begin doing so. The president’s backdown came after one of his top public health officials earlier Tuesday dismissed some experts’ talk of getting to 5 million tests per day. The assistant secretary of health, Admiral Brett Giroir said, “There is absolutely no way on Earth, on this planet or any other planet, that we can do 20 million tests a day, or even five million tests a day.”