In the 24 hours after President Donald Trump’s COVID infection became known at 1 a.m. Friday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was active presenting herself as disposing of various issues, in highly publicized interviews (at least) with MSNBC, CNBC, and CNN. After pronouncing on CNBC that with Trump hospitalized the Treasury and Senate would agree to a COVID relief bill to her specifications; and ordering the airlines to suspend layoffs because she was providing them new aid; Pelosi made the egregious statement to MSNBC reported in the Sunday AM Briefing, regarding continuity of government discussions: “But that is an ongoing — not with the White House but with the military, quite frankly, in terms of some officials in the government.”
The Constitution gives the military no role in ensuring continuity of government; neither does the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 which makes Pelosi third in line after Vice President Pence, nor the National Security Act of the same year. But sometime in late February or early March of this year, with the pandemic spreading to the United States, “For the first time in the modern history of the United States, the Department of Defense has been given standby orders to ensure the ‘continuity of government,’ in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” reported Joseph Fitsanakis, senior editor of IntelNews.org on March 18, 2020. https://intelnews.org/2020/03/18/01-2740/
