Trump Official and Former USAID Aid Chief Tim Meisburger Called Ebola a “Hoax” - While the Disease Was Spreading

More than 200 suspected deaths, nearly 1,000 suspected cases, and a disease once again spreading through parts of Central Africa with brutal speed. The current Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda is among the most severe in recent years. Doctors, aid workers, and global health organizations are now openly saying that valuable time was lost. Funding was frozen, protective equipment was missing, and programs were halted or scaled back. While medical teams tried to trace infections and isolate patients, entirely different debates were unfolding in Washington. There, the focus was on budget cuts, dismantling agencies, and political loyalty.

At the center of the accusations stands Tim Meisburger. A man who returned to an influential role under Donald Trump and now serves as a Senior Adviser at the Peace Corps. Previously, he led USAID’s humanitarian office. Nicholas Enrich, then the acting Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID, testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee that Meisburger had internally described the Ebola outbreak in Uganda as a “scam,” meaning a “fraud” or “hoax.” According to Enrich, Meisburger argued at the time that Ebola was not a serious situation because there had only been one death.

Enrich said he tried to explain that Ebola was still in its incubation phase at that moment and that rapid action was therefore critical. But his warnings were allegedly ignored. Instead, senior officials decided to scale back activities targeting neglected tropical diseases, Ebola, MPox, polio, as well as surveillance and containment programs. In other words, exactly the programs designed to prevent local outbreaks from spiraling out of control.

The allegation is so explosive because Ebola does not become dangerous only once hundreds of people are dead. The disease remains one of the deadliest infectious illnesses in the world. Without rapid isolation, contact tracing, and protective measures, the virus can spread quickly in regions with weak medical infrastructure. Aid workers on the ground have for months reported shortages of equipment, overwhelmed clinics, and severe difficulties containing the outbreak. The U.S. State Department denies any responsibility. Spokesman Tommy Pigott stated that it was false to claim the restructuring of USAID had negatively impacted the Ebola response. But our reporting paints a different picture. It shows an agency where specialists were apparently forced to fight against political decisions while funding was blocked and critical programs sat idle.

Particularly explosive is the background of the people involved in those internal discussions. Tim Meisburger had already generated controversy in 2021. At the time, The Washington Post reported on remarks from an internal video call in which Meisburger allegedly downplayed the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. According to the report, he referred to “a few violent individuals” while “several million” people had supposedly demonstrated peacefully. After those comments became public, he lost his position. Yet under Donald Trump, he later returned to government service.

Mark Lloyd, according to our reporting, also appears to have been present during the discussions and has faced criticism for years. Lloyd served in early 2025 as Assistant Administrator for Global Health as well as for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization at USAID. During Trump’s first term, he had already worked as an adviser on religious freedom within the agency. Even then, criticism emerged over earlier anti Muslim statements he had posted on social media. Among other things, Lloyd had described Islam as a “barbaric cult.” While experts inside the agency were sounding alarms, Elon Musk publicly celebrated the massive dismantling of USAID. At the time, Musk led Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” and posted on X in February that they had spent the weekend “feeding USAID into the wood chipper.” He wrote that he could have gone to great parties instead, but preferred doing that. The comment struck many people then as political provocation. Today, it feels more like a symbol of how recklessly international health infrastructure was treated.

Ebola Suddenly Was No Longer a “Hoax” - And Rubio Closes the Borders

Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared on Wednesday that the United States would “not allow any Ebola cases into the country.” While the administration attempts to contain the outbreak in Africa, the Trump administration is simultaneously establishing a quarantine facility in Kenya for potentially infected American citizens. The statement captures the full contradiction of the situation. In Africa, programs were cut, warnings ignored, and Ebola internally dismissed as a “hoax.” But the moment the threat moves closer to the United States, Washington suddenly speaks of maximum containment and emergency measures.

In parts of Congo and Uganda, aid workers are now struggling simply to contain the outbreak at all. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes hundreds of suspected cases and a large hidden number of infections. Especially in rural regions, medical infrastructure, protective supplies, and functioning monitoring systems are lacking. Ebola remains one of those diseases where speed often determines the line between life and death. Every lost week can mean entirely new chains of infection.

The statements by Nicholas Enrich therefore raise a question extending far beyond Africa itself. What happens when political ideology becomes more important than medical warnings? People who described an Ebola outbreak as a “hoax” or downplayed the attack on the Capitol suddenly found themselves once again in decisive positions. While doctors were trying to save lives, Washington debated budget cuts, dismantling agencies, and political enemies. The consequences are now visible inside hospital wards thousands of miles away from the offices of the men who made those decisions.

The willingness to dismiss scientific warnings, dismantle international aid structures, and only begin taking diseases seriously once they threaten the United States directly also increasingly resembles patterns associated in Europe with the political far right. Especially within Germany’s AfD, there are repeated examples of a political culture in which distrust of science, international isolationism, and ideological loyalty appear more important than long term public health and population protection.

To be continued .....