Former Trump official Brett Giroir, who served as an assistant secretary for health.GRAEME JENNINGS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The health official who helped convince President Trump during his first term that it’s possible to end the HIV epidemic in the United States is now imploring the president to stay the course, as funding cuts threaten to undo progress toward curbing the virus.  

“Trump ’47 should not allow Trump ’45’s massive public health achievement to be cancelled — especially when that legacy will be remembered in history books as the beginning of the end of HIV/AIDS in America,” the official, Brett Giroir, wrote on LinkedIn on Wednesday.

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Trump announced his plan to rid the country of HIV in his 2019 State of the Union address, ensuring that his history-making health goal got maximum attention. Although there were scant details of the plan at the time, Giroir, former assistant secretary for health, said that what became known as the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative has made great strides. 

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