On Sunday, former Vice President Joe Biden appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper to discuss a variety of topics, including Biden’s recent primary win in South Carolina.

During the segment, Tapper asked Biden about President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, and Biden seemed to suggest that the president is calling coronavirus worry a “hoax.”

TAPPER: I’m curious as to your take on the administration’s response to the coronavirus crisis. We just learned of the first American death from the disease yesterday. What, if anything, do you think you would be doing differently if you were president right now?

Biden responded, saying that he would be doing what the Obama administration did when there was an outbreak of the Ebola virus. The former vice president then said that the Trump administration “eliminated” the office set up for pandemics and “cut the funding for the CDC.”

“They did not in fact, when you wanted to – they tried to cut the funding at, you know, in terms of HHS,” Biden stated.

Biden’s first claim, which went uncontested by Tapper, is only partially true. While under the Trump administration, a series of events led to the vacating of certain positions relating to pandemic preparedness, Trump has never cut funding for the CDC.

In May 2018, Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefense at the National Security Council Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer left his position in the administration.

The Washington Post reports that Ziemer was “responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic,” and that “the global health security team he oversaw” was “disbanded under a reorganization by national security adviser John Bolton.”

That said, according to an Associated Press fact check:

The public health system has a playbook to follow for pandemic preparation – regardless of who’s president or whether specific instructions are coming from the White House. Those plans were put into place in anticipation of another flu pandemic, but are designed to work for any respiratory-borne disease.

As for alleged CDC funding cuts under the Trump administration, ABC News reports:

In fact, all of Trump’s budget proposals have called for cuts to CDC funding, but Congress has intervened each time by passing spending bills with year-over-year increases for the CDC that Trump then signed into law.

Additionally, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar defended the president’s proposed cuts as a bargaining process: “Budgets are like the first move in a chess game … the president starts that move with a budget knowing that we’re going to get a lot higher there as we work with Congress.”

Biden continued, seeming to suggest that the president has called coronavirus worry a “hoax.”

I don’t want to talk down the possibility of us being able to do this well, but, you know, the idea that Donald Trump said just several days ago that this is a Democratic hoax. What in God’s name is he talking about? What in God’s name is he talking about? Has he no shame? We’re in a situation where – I respect Vice President Pence and his being put in charge, but we should be hearing from the scientists. He mentions Fauci. Fauci’s been there since Bush – all three presidents, we listen to him. He was a spokesperson. He was out in front. Let the scientists speak. Let them tell us what’s going on. Let them prepare us. Let them prepare the country. Let them be the ones explaining how they’re going to provide the protective gear for hospitals that are intake hospitals. And as you pointed out, Jake, the fact is that the other nations have had thousands of tests so far. What are we doing? Why are we just – why are we just getting started?

Biden also spoke about the availability or lack thereof of testing kits for the virus, and further criticized the Trump administration for their handling of the entire situation.

Joe Biden criticizes the Trump administration’s response to coronavirus: “They didn’t even begin to prepare the testing kits. I mean, this is something that is kind of elementary” #CNNSOTUhttps://t.co/scVEBlSo5p pic.twitter.com/bYBnT1zFyz — State of the Union (@CNNSotu) March 1, 2020

President Trump did not call the coronavirus itself a “hoax.” During a rally in South Carolina on Thursday, Trump talked about the Democrats “politicizing the coronavirus.”

Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. Coronavirus. They’re politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. [You say], “How’s President Trump doing?” They go, “Not good. Not good.” They have no clue. They don’t have any clue. They can’t even count their votes in Iowa. No, they can’t. They can’t count their votes. One of my people came up to me and said, “Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.” That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything. They tried it over and over. They’ve been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning. They lost. It’s all turning. Think of it. And this is their new hoax…

The president went on to talk about seasonal flu death rates:

A number that nobody heard of, that I heard of recently, and I was shocked to hear it – 35,000 people on average die each year from the flu. Did anyone know that? 35,000. That is a lot of people. It can go to 100,000. It can be 27,000. They say usually a minimum of 27,000. Goes up to 100,000 people a year die. And so far we have lost nobody to coronavirus in the United States. Nobody – and it doesn’t mean we won’t, and we are totally prepared. It doesn’t mean we won’t. But think of it, you hear [35,000] and 40,000 people, and we’ve lost nobody, and you wonder the press is in hysteria mode.

Trump later touted his administration’s “aggressive” preparedness for the coronavirus, including the “suspension of foreign nationals who have recently been in China from entering the United States,” as well as the “first federally mandated quarantine in over 50 years,” and the requesting of $2.5 billion for coronavirus-related resources.

During a Saturday press conference, President Trump responded to a question regarding his use of the word “hoax,” saying: