ANTHRAX's CHARLIE BENANTE Slams TRUMP For Claiming He Didn't Know He Fired U.S. Pandemic Response Team In 2018

ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante has slammed President Donald Trump for his response to a question about his decision to fire top health officials who were responsible for the response to pandemics.

During Trump's press conference Friday, he was asked if he was responsible for the failures in testing for coronavirus. He responded: "I don't take responsibility at all." PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor then brought up the fact that the president dismissed the entire pandemic response team two years ago and then didn't replace them (as confirmed by Snopes).

"You said that you don't take responsibility, but you did disband the White House Pandemic Office, and officials that were working that office left the administration abruptly, so what responsibility do you take to that?" Alcindor asked the president. "And the officials that worked in that office said that the White House lost valuable time because that office was disbanded."

In response, Trump called it "a nasty question" and said he didn't know about it and instead claimed, "We're doing a great job."

"Well, I just think it's a nasty question," Trump said. "Because what we've done, and Tony [Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease researcher] has said numerous times that we saved thousands of lives because of the quick closings. And when you say me, I didn't do it; we have a group of people."

"It's your administration," Alcindor responded.

"I could perhaps ask Tony about that, because I don't know anything about it," Trump continued.

Shortly after the press conference, Benante tweeted out a video of the exchange and offered the following comment: "Ummmmmm, not a good Answer . Is anyone else starting to wonder what’s really going on? Didn’t they know about this Virus back in December? Why has it taken this long to even start to get active? Where are the tests?? #biowarfare"

Benante later clarified in a separate tweet after this story was first published: "Hahahahaha, here we go again! I never slammed him - more Clickbaiting here -you read what you want . I think Pence is doing a Good job of things and I hope we get through this . It just made me wonder why He didn’t have an answer , shouldn’t everyone think that? More tests!"

This is not the first time Benante has spoken out against the Trump administration. In January, the drummer implied that Trump authorized the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force, to distract the public from his impeachment trial.

Back in November 2018, Benante told Ireland's Overdrive that he no longer shared his political views online because he didn't want to come under criticism from his fans. "I've stopped posting things about my own beliefs and political standpoint on things because of the bashing I think I'll take for it, and I don't think that's fair," he said. "I'm an American, I pay my taxes and all of this stuff affects me just as much as it affects the next person."