The New York Times said a senior reporter 'went too far' after he slammed Trump and said the CDC director should resign

• The New York Times says a reporter who called for the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to resign and slammed the Trump administration "went too far."
• Appearing on CNN on Tuesday, science and health reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. said the US "completely blew it" in the early stages of its outbreak and can't fault China for it.
• McNeil also called for the resignation of CDC Director Robert Redfield in the interview, which you can watch below.
• The Times later told The Hill McNeil had gone "too far" with his remarks, adding: "His job is to report the facts and not to offer his own opinions."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The New York Times says a senior reporter who publicly slammed President Donald Trump, and called on the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to quit, "went too far."

In a Tuesday CNN interview, science and health reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. told host Christiane Amanpour that the US only had itself to blame for a woeful response to the coronavirus outbreak.

"We completely blew it for the first two months of our response," McNeil said. "We were in a 'headless chicken' phase."

"It is the president's fault. It is not China's fault."

"China had an explosive epidemic going on in their midst [in January and February] and they brought down the hammer," he added. "What we call a lockdown in this country, to China, is an absolute joke."

McNeil also called for the resignation of Robert Redfield, the CDC's director.

"We fiddled around for two months," he said. "We had a test on March 5, and it didn't work. We didn't have 10,000 people tested until March 15, so we lost two months there and that was because of incompetent leadership at the CDC."

"It's a great agency, but it's incompetently led and I think Redfield should resign," he added.

Later on Tuesday The New York Times said that McNeil "went too far" in his remarks.

"His editors have discussed the issue with him to reiterate that his job is to report the facts and not to offer his own opinions," a spokesperson told The Hill.

"We are confident that his reporting on science and medicine for The Times has been scrupulously fair and accurate."

McNeil has worked at the Times in various roles for more than 30 years. He specializes in covering plagues and pestilences, and has covered the AIDS, Ebola, malaria, swine flu, bird flu, and SARS outbreaks for the newspaper.

Business Insider has contacted McNeil for comment, but has yet to receive a response.