Of course, he claimed he wasn’t involved. He’s a liar.
Updated my piece to note that at least 5 Democrats – @SenWarren @PattyMurray @SenSherrodBrown @GerryConnolly and @RepBera – wrote to the Trump White House in 2018 to warn that disbanding the NSC pandemic preparedness team was dangerous https://t.co/Wd2FXoIwlX
— Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) April 2, 2020
White House economists projected *last September* that a pandemic in the United States could kill 500k and inflict up to $4T in damage to the economy.
— Jim Tankersley (@jimtankersley) March 31, 2020
They warned policymakers against conflating those risks with the cost of the common flu. https://t.co/NMprcaufeH
NEW: Two months before the novel coronavirus likely began spreading in Wuhan, the Trump administration ended a $200-million program aimed at detecting — well, novel coronaviruses. The staff had been working with the lab in — well, Wuhan. w/ @RaineyTime https://t.co/N9LsMS3eN3
— Emily Baumgaertner (@Emily_Baum) April 3, 2020
Again, the playbook was called “PLAYBOOK FOR EARLY RESPONSE TO HIGH-CONSEQUENCE EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASE THREATS AND BIOLOGICAL INCIDENTS.”https://t.co/7TPjzPxMPT
— subscribe to my newsletter (@brianbeutler) March 26, 2020
We knew it could happen.
— Jeremy THANK YOU HEALTH HEROES Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) March 26, 2020
We knew it *would* eventually happen.
So:
We left them a playbook.
We left them an expert NSC team.
We built a transition exercise around it.
We built new programs to prepare for it.
They ignored/closed/undermined all of that.
This is horseshit. https://t.co/fAAU4IENM0
Here's the full 69-page, step-by-step playbook on how to manage a pandemic. It was handed to Trump's team at a Jan. 2017 tabletop exercise with outgoing Obama officials.
— Chris Lu (@ChrisLu44) March 26, 2020
Based on two wasted months of Trump downplaying the crisis, it's pretty obvious no one paid attention to this https://t.co/dhfFvSDWSN
Trump claimed he knew nothing about WH disbanding pandemic team.
— Carol Leonnig (@CarolLeonnig) March 17, 2020
But video shows he did:
“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 than spending the money”. https://t.co/HUGLmEnXIX
There might be an explanation for why disbanding the pandemic unit wasn't unwise. But the president declines to give it and instead goes to name-calling at the questioner. Then some of his supporters get mad at reporters for asking the question https://t.co/TKnvSQrMeG
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 14, 2020
Two years ago, President Trump fired the entire global health security team at the White House. Their job?
— Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) March 13, 2020
Managing pandemics.
Now we're all paying the price for President Trump's decisions. pic.twitter.com/TiXVOnRGLa
This wasn’t a nasty letter. But it was a prescient one. https://t.co/WtES5nJf6R
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) March 13, 2020
“I ran the White House pandemic office. Trump closed it.” — @BethCameron_DC https://t.co/4wAhgubzQJ
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 13, 2020
If you wanna know what @Yamiche was asking about, here's Trump ADMITTING to cutting the Pandemic Response Team in 2018. #NastyQuestion pic.twitter.com/TVdoXiutoA
— Jeffrey Lieber (@JeffLieber) March 13, 2020
Smart thread by @MSNBC on what happened to the disbanded White House pandemic office in 2018. https://t.co/soQmhCNMI0
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) March 13, 2020
President trump didn't take responsibility for his decision to disband the White House pandemic team…..once again he pleaded ignorance as a defensepic.twitter.com/bSQS6vr7Qf
— PoliticsVideoChannel (@politvidchannel) March 13, 2020
May 2018 https://t.co/RWCTO6YVy0
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 13, 2020
The facts about the disbanding of Trump White House office on pandemics courtesy of @KenDilanianNBC https://t.co/rOLay7zo4c
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) March 13, 2020
There might be an explanation for why disbanding the pandemic unit wasn't unwise. But the president declines to give it and instead goes to name-calling at the questioner. Then some of his supporters get mad at reporters for asking the question https://t.co/TKnvSQrMeG
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 14, 2020
SCOOP: The Department of Homeland Security stopped updating its annual models of the havoc that pandemics would wreak on America’s critical infrastructure in 2017. @dlippman's latest: https://t.co/De6gzifP4f
— POLITICO Press (@POLITICOPress) March 25, 2020
Trump is calling it a false story that he disbanded the NSC team responsible for global pandemics in 2018.
— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) April 1, 2020
John Roberts from Fox News was the one who brought it up.
It is not a false story. It happened.
Trump can’t rewrite history and manipulate objective reality with words.
In addition to Warren and Patty Murray, Sen. Sherrod Brown also sent a letter to the White House on the reports of the disbanding of the pandemic unit on the NSC.
— andrew kaczynski🤔 (@KFILE) April 2, 2020
And Democratic Congressmen Ami Bera and Gerald Connoll who cited the 100th anniversary of the Spanish Flu. pic.twitter.com/AXY4xZFbZh
This has some very strong "Bin Laden determined to strike in US" energy. h/t @chrislhayes pic.twitter.com/VhstU9Ss86
— Seth Cotlar (@SethCotlar) April 3, 2020
Sad! 