Fact Check

Did Trump Tweet That Obama 'Had 8 Years to Prepair the Next President for a Pandemic'?

A false Republican talking point was encapsulated in a fake tweet attributed to President Donald Trump.

Published May 13, 2020

 (Casimiro PT / Shutterstock.com)
Image Via Casimiro PT / Shutterstock.com
Claim:
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that Barack Obama "had 8 years to prepair the next president for a pandemic and he failed."

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In May 2020, Facebook users circulated an image of a tweet purportedly posted by U.S. President Donald Trump on May 11 in which the chief executive criticized his predecessor, Barack Obama, over the Obama administration's alleged failure to prepare for a pandemic:

"It is unbelievable that President Obama criticized me for the coronavirus virus response. He had 8 years to prepair the next president for a pandemic and he failed. I have done a tremendous job. There are still more people alive then dead!" the tweet read.

Although Trump and other Republicans have (falsely) criticized the Obama administration for supposedly not leaving behind a pandemic playbook, this image did not capture a genuine Trump tweet. No such tweet exists on the timeline of the @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account, and neither the Factbase or Politiwoops databases, which archive tweets by public officials (including deleted tweets), has captured any such matching tweet.

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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