Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said that the National Guard was guarding tests the state shipped in from South Korea to protect from federal seizures.
Multiple governors have claimed that the federal government has seized supplies they’ve ordered despite President Donald Trump instructing states to take the lead on purchasing.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said that the federal government seized a shipment of 500 ventilators that the state had ordered.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said that the feds similarly seized millions of masks he ordered from China.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said the state kept its shipment of protective equipment from China a secret to avoid seizure.
Maryland ordered tests from South Korea:
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan bought 500,000 tests from South Korea after delays from the federal government.
"If there were an easier way, we certainly would have taken it," Hogan said. "The president said the governors are on their own and they should focus on getting their own tests, and that's exactly what we did."
Hogan said it was a "confidential project called Operation Enduring Friendship” and said his wife, who was born in South Korea, was a “champion” of the effort.
"States have been competing on the open market and the domestic market and the international market ... throughout this entire crisis. Competing with each other and the federal government," Hogan said. "I'm not sure it should have been that way, but that's the way it is, it's the way the president said it had to be, so that's what we were operating under.”
Maryland National Guard protecting tests:
Hogan said this week that he deployed the National Guard to protect the tests.
“The National Guard and the State Police are both guarding these tests at an undisclosed location,” he told The Washington Post. “There had been reports of, for example in Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker told the story of his planeload … with masks was basically confiscated by the federal government.”
