Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita reflects on dispute with Governor Holcomb

Published: Jan. 14, 2022 at 11:24 PM EST
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FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - During an interview in South Bend a couple of weeks ago, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said he doesn’t believe any of the numbers when it comes to COVID-19 statistics.

Governor Eric Holcomb slammed the AG publicly during a news conference saying he was blindsided by the comments.

During an interview with WSBT, Rokita said, “I don’t believe any numbers anymore.”

WSBT Anchor Todd Connor added, “From your state health people?”

“This has been politicized from day one. Now we have to figure out are people dying from COVID,” Rokita said.

Those comments met with public pushback by Governor Holcomb.

“I was stunned and somewhat blindsided by the Attorney General when he said he didn’t trust our information. It’s quite serious when you accuse anyone of inflating numbers. In my book that’s called fraud,” Holcomb said.

The governor said if Rokita had evidence of fraud he should take it to the inspector general. But Friday afternoon, when Fort Wayne’s NBC News asked the AG about it during his stop at the Allen County Sheriff’s K-9 Training Facility, he said wasn’t talking specifically about state numbers.

“It has very little to do with Indiana and very much to do with international data management issues and how information is conveyed,” Rokita said.

Rokita questions whether the CDC’s number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 is inflated and suspects many people died instead from other causes.

“It’s about transparency and that is what we should all be about and that’s where really I’m a reflection of so many other people who are questioning where this is all coming from including now the C-D-C,” Rokita said.

Earlier this week the CDC told CNN that “in 91% of all deaths that mention COVID-19, the virus is listed as the underlying cause of death.” In other words, it’s the condition that began the chain of events that ultimately led to the death.

But the Attorney General is still skeptical.

“How are you diagnosing a COVID case because there is a difference and words matter. There is a difference between dying from COVID and dying of COVID.”

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