John Cornyn Defends Calling Coronavirus "Chinese virus" Interview Transcript

Reporter: (00:01) Are you on board with the President calling this the "China virus," "Chinese virus?" Does it seem like that's helpful right now, to call it that? John Cornyn: (00:07) That's where it came from. Reporter: (00:09) But is it helpful? It alienates people and it sort of sends like tones that like there is someone to blame, that there is a group of people to blame. John Cornyn: (00:15) Well, I think China is to blame, because they're the culture where people eat bats, and snakes, and dogs and things like that. These viruses are transmitted from the animal to the people, and that's why China has been the source of a lot of these viruses, like SARS, like MERS, the swine flu, and now the coronavirus. So I think they have a fundamental problem, and I don't object to geographically identifying where it's coming from. Reporter: (00:44) [crosstalk 00:00:44] connected to Asian Americans. Asian Americans are feeling like it is a racist thing [crosstalk 00:00:49]. John Cornyn: (00:48) Oh, I disagree. I don't think, we're not talking about Asians, we're talking about China where these viruses emanate from and which created this pandemic.