Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Trump Claimed No Knowledge Of Firing US Pandemic Response Team. A 2018 Video Of Him Talking About It Has Emerged.

Bess Levin, Vanity Fair, March 17, 2020:
Remember when Trump said he didn't know anything about the administration cutting the White House pandemic office?

And that questions about the move are "nasty," and, really, any reporters asking him as much should be ashamed of themselves? Wellllll:
A video has emerged of Donald Trump talking about cutting the U.S. pandemic response team in 2018—days after claiming that he knew nothing about the disbanded White House unit.

Mr Trump said of the pandemic team that "some of the people we've cut they haven't been used for many, many years and if we ever need them we can get them very quickly and rather then spending the money".

A former director of the unit, Dr. Beth Cameron, used an op-ed in the Washington Post to say that "it is clear that eliminating the office has contributed to the federal government's sluggish domestic response." In a press conference on Friday, Mr. Trump denied knowing anything about the cuts in 2018 when questioned by Yamiche Alcindor, a reporter for PBS.

"I'm a business person, I don't like having thousands of people around when you don't need them,” Trump said in the 2018 clip.

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