President Trump acknowledged to the journalist Bob Woodward that he knowingly performed down the coronavirus earlier this yr though he was consciou
President Trump acknowledged to the journalist Bob Woodward that he knowingly performed down the coronavirus earlier this yr though he was conscious it was “lethal” and vastly extra severe than the seasonal flu.
“That is lethal stuff,” Mr. Trump informed Mr. Woodward on Feb. 7 in certainly one of 18 interviews they carried out for his upcoming ebook, “Rage.” The Washington Submit and CNN got advance copies of the ebook and printed particulars on Wednesday.
“You simply breathe the air and that’s the way it’s handed,” Mr. Trump mentioned. “And in order that’s a really tough one. That’s a really delicate one. It’s additionally extra lethal than even your strenuous flu.”
That was a vastly totally different story than Mr. Trump was telling the general public, as he repeatedly insisted it might go away shortly and denigrated considerations from Democrats as merely an effort to tar him.
“I needed to at all times play it down,” Mr. Trump informed Mr. Woodward on March 19. “I nonetheless like enjoying it down, as a result of I don’t wish to create a panic.”
“That is lethal stuff,” the president repeated for emphasis.
Mr. Trump informed Mr. Woodward he didn’t recall being informed by the nationwide safety adviser, Robert O’Brien, on Jan. 28 that the coronavirus represented “largest nationwide safety risk” of his presidency, in line with CNN.
“We just about shut it down coming in from China,” Mr. Trump mentioned in an interview with Fox Information on Feb. 2.
In his interviews with Mr. Woodward through the month of February, a time when Mr. Trump continued to publicly play down the chance the virus offered and gave no clear steering to the general public about precautions, the president was clear he knew it was a risk.
And whereas he has mentioned publicly that youngsters are “nearly immune” to the virus, the president, who is nearly at all times most involved with how issues play within the media, informed Mr. Woodward in March, “Simply at this time and yesterday, some startling details got here out. It’s not simply previous, older. Younger folks too — loads of younger folks.”
In April, Mr. Trump informed Mr. Woodward, “It’s so simply transmissible, you wouldn’t even consider it.”
Mr. Trump gave Mr. Woodward intensive entry to his White Home and to high officers within the hopes the eventual ebook could be “constructive,” in his eyes. Mr. Trump didn’t converse to Mr. Woodward for his first ebook on the Trump presidency, “Concern,” and the president has maintained publicly and to advisers that it might have turned out higher had he personally participated.
That will not be his conclusion after studying “Rage.”