The comedian, currently in a hospital receiving treatment for "unbearably painful symptoms," responded to the president's tweet earlier on Wednesday where he boasted that America is performing more tests than any other nation.
While in a hospital isolation ward room receiving treatment for "unbearably painful symptoms," comedian Kathy Griffin responded to President Trump's tweet where he alleged that the United States has performed "more testing than any other nation." After calling him out for lying, she shared a personal note about being unable to obtain a test for the coronavirus (COVID-19) due to certain restrictions in place.
Trump's initial tweet read, "Just reported that the United States has done far more "testing" than any other nation, by far! In fact, over an eight day span, the United States now does more testing than what South Korea (which has been a very successful tester) does over an eight week span. Great job," wrote Trump on Wednesday.
Griffin replied in response, "He's lying. I was sent to the #COVID19 isolation ward room in a major hospital ER from a separate urgent care facility after showing UNBEARABLY PAINFUL SYMPTOMS. The hospital couldn't test me for #coronavirus because of CDC (Pence taskforce) restrictions." She included a photo of herself lying in a hospital bed with a mask over her nose and mouth.
The online interaction between the comedian and the president has not continued beyond this point, though both tweets are receiving engagement.
Her message was retweeted over 8,000 times and received tens of thousands of comments in support. Griffin, whose mother Maggie — a familiar face in many of the comedian's reality shows — died earlier this month, has been vocal about the coronavirus pandemic on social media, often tweeting news articles and tweets from news anchors such as Rachel Maddow.
Currently pinned on her Twitter account is a suggestion to follow the news anchor Steve Lookner for international breaking news updates.
