Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar quieted CNN reporter Jim Acosta during the White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing on Friday after Acosta suggested that the administration had “dropped the ball” in responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

Acosta referenced a report published by CNN earlier in the day that highlighted how Azar said during a biodefence summit last April that a flu pandemic was something that kept a lot of people up at night in his field.

“For 15 years this country has had a massive effort at the federal, state, and local level of preparedness for pandemic. Now, that largely has been, as I said in those remarks about pandemic flu preparedness,” Azar responded. “We knew about SARS, we know about MERS, which were earlier modifications or variance of the coronavirus. None of those achieved anything like what we are seeing today.”

“But that’s why, for successive presidencies, including the leadership of President Trump, there’s been a great focus on pandemic preparedness,” Azar continued. “In fact, it was just in September that the president signed the pandemic flu preparedness Executive Order and we have also updated the pandemic crisis action plan which has been the playbook from which we have been working, the pandemic flu plan, again, the action plan from which we have been working, that coordinates the whole of government, whole of economy approach. So, we have all been very focused on pandemic preparedness. That’s what we do. But this particular strain of pandemic, who would have known this particular strain?”

WATCH:

Jim @Acosta is a transparent hack. So @realdonaldtrump treated him like one. Then, for a cherry on top, Sec Azar dunks on Acosta, too. pic.twitter.com/shIDAmB2Ve — (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) April 3, 2020

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