CLAIM: President Trump “fired” the government’s pandemic specialist, and “defunded” the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

VERDICT: Mostly false. The specialist was not fired; he quit. Some CDC cuts were proposed, but not implemented.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg claimed at the Democrat debate in Charleston, South Carolina, on Tuesday night that President Donald Trump had “fired” the government’s pandemic expert and “defunded” the Centers for Disease Control:

One of the great problems today, you read about the virus, what’s really happening here is the president fired the pandemic specialist in this country two years ago, so there’e nobody here to figure out what the hell we should be doing. And he’s defunded Centers for Disease Control, CDC so we don’t have the organization we need.

In reality, the pandemic expert — Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer — left the National Security Council (NSC) voluntarily after then-National Security Advisor John Bolton was appointed. – READ MORE

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