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Muir presses Trump on what he's done to restock 'empty shelves' he blames on Obama

12:09
Trump on reopening the country amid potential COVID-19 risks: Part 1
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
ByEnjoli Francis and Esther Castillejo
May 06, 2020, 8:06 PM

President Donald Trump told ABC News anchor David Muir in an exclusive interview that when his administration came into office in January 2017, there were no ventilators, medical equipment or testing to help it combat the COVID-19 pandemic currently gripping the U.S.

"The cupboard was bare. ... The last administration left us nothing," Trump told the "World News Tonight" anchor during an interview Tuesday, claiming that his administration had worked to build an "incredible" stockpile.

President Donald Trump speaks with ABC News' David Muir in Phoenix on May 5, 2020.
ABC News

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TRANSCRIPT: ABC News anchor David Muir interviews President Trump in Arizona

When Muir pressed Trump about what he's done to "restock" the cupboard he said had been left "bare," the president claimed he's been busy.

"Well, I'll be honest. I have a lot of things going on. We had a lot of people that refused to allow the country to be successful. They wasted a lot of time on Russia, Russia, Russia. That turned out to be a total hoax. Then they did Ukraine, Ukraine and that was a total hoax, then they impeached the president of the United States for absolutely no reason," Trump said.

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President Trump to Americans who've lost loved ones to the coronavirus: 'I love you'

In 2018, according to The Associated Press, the president disbanded the Obama administration's National Security Council directorate for global health and security and bio-defense, which had been tasked with preparing for a future pandemic in the U.S.

Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis.

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