Mitch McConnell says he was wrong to claim Obama didn't leave Trump a pandemic plan after people point out the former president left 69-page playbook

• In an online Trump campaign event, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the Obama administration didn't leave Trump "any kind of game plan" to deal with a pandemic.
• Former Obama administration officials called out McConnell, saying Obama did leave a 69-page plan but the Trump administration ignored it.
• McConnell later walked back his comments, saying in an interview on Fox News that he "was wrong" and made a mistake.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is walking back his claims that the Obama administration didn't leave Trump a plan for pandemics, saying that he "was wrong" and made a mistake.

McConnell said in a Trump campaign livestream that the Obama administration didn't leave Trump "any kind of game plan for something like this."

Obama administration officials quickly refuted McConnell's claim. Former Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said,"The maddening thing is Obama left them a WH office for pandemics, a literal playbook, a cabinet-level exercise, and a global infrastructure to deal with 'something like this.'"

Ronald Klein, Joe Biden's former chief of staff, said, "We literally left them a 69-page Pandemic Playbook.... that they ignored And an office called the Pandemic Preparedness Office... that they abolished. And a global monitoring system called PREDICT .. that they cut by 75%."

—Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) May 12, 2020

"I was wrong," McConnell said in an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier on Thursday. "They did leave behind a plan. So I clearly made a mistake in that regard."

McConnell added that, "As to whether or not the plan was followed, who's the critic and all the rest, I don't have any observation about that because I don't know enough about the details of that, Bret, to comment on it in any detail."

The playbook left by the Obama administration included details about personal protective equipment and the White House's responsibility to take charge during a potential pandemic, according to a report from Politico.

"The American public will look to the U.S. government for action when multi-state or other significant events occur," the playbook said.

Politico also reported that Obama officials conducted a training exercise with incoming Trump administration officials about how to deal with a potential pandemic. The report said some officials in the incoming administration were dismissive, and that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross fell asleep (A spokesperson for Ross denied the claim.)

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