President Trump nearly fired a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official after she said in February that the agency was preparing for a pandemic, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“It’s not a question of if this will happen but when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses,” Nancy Messonnier, the director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said on Feb. 25.
According to the Journal, Trump was angry with Messonnier after her statement resulted in a dip in the stock market. The same day, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar said that the virus was “contained” in the U.S.
The next day Trump repeatedly said he did not think an outbreak was “inevitable” and appointed Vice President Pence as the head of the administration’s coronavirus task force.