Overview
- In an Oval Office Q&A on Monday, White House correspondent Hariana Verás told President Trump she had just returned from eastern DRC and said she witnessed Rwandans killing Congolese, and Trump interrupted by asking, “How is Ebola?”
- Verás said Ebola is under control but that the country still needs help to fight the outbreak; Trump responded that he would “make sure it works out” and asserted he had brokered a peace deal between the DRC and Rwanda.
- The U.S.‑brokered peace agreement signed in June 2025 has not been fully implemented and fighting and mass displacement have continued in eastern DRC, according to the reporting cited during the exchange.
- The United Nations reports the recent Ebola outbreak in the DRC has produced 8,067 confirmed cases and 3,901 deaths, and House Democrats have blamed Trump administration cuts to foreign‑aid and USAID restructuring for weakening the region’s outbreak response.
- The moment highlighted questions about presidential attention to human rights and health crises, the role of U.S. aid in outbreak control, and press access to on‑the‑ground evidence from journalists covering central Africa.