President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly told Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp that they approved of his aggressive plan to allow businesses to reopen, just a day before Trump pulled an about-face and publicly bashed the plan, according to two administration officials.

The green light from Pence and Trump came in separate private conversations with the Republican governor both before Kemp announced his plan to ease coronavirus restrictions and after it was unveiled on Monday, the officials said. Trump’s sudden shift came only after top health advisers reviewed the plan more closely and persuaded the president that Kemp was risking further spread of the virus by moving too quickly…

[O]n Wednesday, members of the White House’s virus task force revisited the plan and felt it was too soon and would be difficult to defend in that afternoon’s press briefing. Dr. Deborah Birx, who helps lead the White House’s coronavirus response, then spoke to the president after the meeting and suggested that it was too soon to reopen Georgia, an assertion with which the president agreed, according to the officials.