Former Vice President Joe Biden now backs President Trump’s restrictions on travel from China amid the global coronavirus pandemic, his campaign said Friday.

Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield told CNN Friday that the former vice president “supports travel bans that are guided by medical experts, advocated by public health officials and backed by a full strategy.”

“Science supported this ban, therefore he did too,” she told the outlet.

However, Biden has repeatedly criticized President Trump and his coronavirus response, most recently Thursday. “Donald Trump ignored the warnings. He failed to act,” he tweeted.


Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale blasted the Democratic 2020 presidential primary front-runner on Twitter over the apparent travel ban reversal.


“This is a long time lag, even for Sleepy Joe,” he wrote, accusing Biden of bashing the travel restrictions as “xenophobia” and “fear-mongering” in the roughly two months since they were implemented.

“That’s not leadership” Parscale continued. “That’s bad judgement.”

President Trump announced the restrictions on travelers entering the U.S. from China on Jan. 31. The next day, Biden ripped the president on Twitter.

“We need to lead the way with science – not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering,” he wrote. “He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency.