NEW to @NBCNews

House Democrats find Trump overspent for ventilators by as much as $500 million

1. They paid 4-5 times as much as the Obama admin did for functionally identical machines

2. Didn't enforce prior contract or try to build on it. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-democrats-find-administration-overspent-ventilators-much-500-million-n1235252

3. Were asked in Jan. by Philips if they needed more vents. A new contract wasn't cut until April, well after peaks in NY/MI and after govs there were warning of shortages

4. Deal was negotiated by Peter Navarro, formalized by a former Kushner roommate. Maj. of the correspondence was between Philips and a recent college grad assisting Navarro.

5. Oversight Democrats call this "fleecing" and say the $$ should be clawed back.

Statement from Matt Smith, comms director for Oversight Republicans:

"Democrats will stop at nothing in their endless quest to politicize this pandemic. After months of Democratic governors rushing to television cameras to beg for more ventilators, ...

Congressional Democrats are now unhappy with the Administration’s successful efforts to quickly secure a robust supply from American manufacturers.

Rather than provide credit for the more than quadrupling of available ventilators in the national stockpile since March, they now

seek to diminish President Trump’s success by throwing a tantrum over contracting terms. This is just the latest example of a Democratic Party more concerned with partisan politics than fighting COVID-19."