‘Genocide by default’: Yale epidemiologist calls Trump’s coronavirus response a potential war crime

With President Donald Trump signaling that he's ready to wind down his own administration's COVID-19 task force even as the disease continues killing thousands of Americans every day, a Yale epidemiologist believes the president is ready to accept mass death as long as he gets re-elected.

Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist who works as an assistant professor at Yale School of Public Health, wrote a scathing tweet about the president's latest efforts to send Americans back to work even though more than 70,000 people have died so far with no end in sight.

"How many people will die this summer, before Election Day?" he asked. "What proportion of the deaths will be among African-Americans, Latinos, other people of color? This is getting awfully close to genocide by default. What else do you call mass death by public policy?"

Gonsalves went on to say that Trump's negligence is so gross that he could be prosecuted for war crimes under international law.

"So, what does it mean to let thousands die by negligence, omission, failure to act, in a legal sense under international law?" he asked. "And I am being serious here: what is happening in the US is purposeful, considered negligence, omission, failure to act by our leaders. Can they be held responsible under international law?"