President Donald Trump denied on Wednesday morning that he was planning to dissolve the White House COVID-19 task force.
“Because of this success, the Task Force will continue on indefinitely with its focus on SAFETY & OPENING UP OUR COUNTRY AGAIN,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets.
However, “we may add or subtract people to it, as appropriate,” he added.
The tweets seem to indicate a change of heart considering the New York Times’ report on task force officials being told their team was being disbanded, along with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s comments about the status of the task force the day before.
During a press conference in Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday, Trump praised the “fantastic” task force but said that “we’re now looking at a little bit of a different form.”
“And that form is safety and opening,” he said. “And we’ll have a different group probably set up for that.”
Pence told reporters on Tuesday that the administration was “having conversations” about when to end the task force and that officials were mulling to pull the plug on the task force by early June, though nothing had been decided.
