“A top adviser privately urged President Donald Trump to acquire critical medical supplies in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak – and after the warning was ignored, pursued his own ad hoc strategy that committed more than $1 billion in federal funds and has since prompted multiple probes, according to newly released documents from congressional investigators. Peter Navarro, who served as Trump’s trade adviser, warned the president on March 1, 2020, to ‘MOVE IN ‘TRUMP TIME’’ to invest in ingredients for drugs, handheld coronavirus tests and other supplies to fight the virus, according to a memo obtained by the House’s select subcommittee on the coronavirus outbreak. Navarro also said that he’d been trying to acquire more protective gear like masks, critiquing the administration’s pace. ‘There is NO downside risk to taking swift actions as an insurance policy against what may be a very serious public health emergency. If the covid-19 crisis quickly recedes, the only thing we will have been guilty of is prudence,’ Navarro wrote to the president. At the time, there were about 100 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States and just two deaths linked to the outbreak.”

“But after Trump ignored Navarro’s recommendations, the trade adviser embarked on his own strategy to acquire supplies with little oversight, Democrats said. Navarro subsequently steered a $765 million loan to Eastman Kodak to produce ingredients for generic drugs, a $354 million contract for pharmaceutical ingredients to a start-up called Phlow and a $96 million sole-source contract for powered respirators and filters from AirBoss Defense Group. The administration’s loan to Kodak, which had never previously manufactured drugs and is best known for its former photography business, was paused last year amid probes by multiple congressional committees. House investigators also learned that Kodak executives had warned federal officials in March 2020 that the company would need a waiver from the FDA’s current good manufacturing practices – federal standards intended to ensure that firms have the necessary equipment, facilities and other components needed to produce safe and effective drugs” – Washington Post.