Yes, The Trump Administration Really Closed The White House Pandemic Office In 2018

Even in the middle of a press conference ostensibly serious about informing the American people about the novel coronavirus, and the national state of emergency being enacted in its wake, President Donald Trump couldn't stop himself from being, well... Himself.


While the press conference conducted on Friday (March 13) included a couple of lies and willful exaggerations — and not to say, quite several CEOs of major private businesses — maybe the most jaw-dropping moment came once PBS Newshour White Residence correspondent Yamiche Alcindor asked the president about his prior comment that he "does not take responsibility" for the current flurry In America. Globally, the World Health Corporation has sorted the spread of the coronavirus, and the illness it causes, referred to as COVID-19, as a pandemic.


"You mentioned that you don’t take responsibility however you did disband the White Home pandemic office," Alcindor said, referring to the 2018 dissolution of the office, at the directive of former National Security Advisor John Bolton. "And the officials that were working in that office left this administration abruptly, so what responsibility do you take for that? And the officials that worked in that office mentioned the White House lost wasted valuable time as the office was disbanded — what do you make of that?"


Trump resisted to answer the question in full, calling it "nasty," which is a word he overwhelmingly wields against females. Below, his answer in full:

"I just think it’s a nasty question because what we’ve done is — and Tony [Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases] has mentioned countless times that we’ve saved thousands lives due to the quick closing. And while you mention me — I didn’t do it, we have an audience of people might, I might ask perhaps in this administration that... I might perhaps ask Tony about that because I don’t know anything about it. I mean, you mention you mention we did that, we’re spending — I don’t know anything about it. It’s the administration, perhaps they do that, people let people go. You used to be with a different newspaper than you are right now. You know, things like that happen."

He was instantly fact-checked in real-time by users across social media, including those who pointed to a Washington Post editorial by Beth Cameron, the former senior director for global health security and biodefense on the White Home National Security Council, that published earlier that day.


"It’s impossible to assess the entire impact of the 2018 choice to disband the White Residence office accountable for this work," she wrote. "Biological experts do remain in the White Residence and in our government. Nevertheless it is clear that eliminating the office has contributed to the federal government’s sluggish domestic response."


And Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) disputed the notion that Trump didn't know about the closure, with a lot of receipts.


That administration closure is among the several ways the Trump administration has been slow, misguided, or entirely misleading in its response to the pandemic. In 2018, Mother Jones notes, the administration also cut 80 percent of CDC funding meant to fight global pandemics.