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Trump knew the virus was dangerous in February
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US President Donald Trump acknowledged to a journalist early in the coronavirus pandemic that he played down the danger of the health crisis despite having evidence to the contrary after a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
According to the interviews by author Bob Woodward for his new book “Rage,” Trump knew the virus was dangerous in early February, CNN and The Washington Post reported.
In the recording of a February 7 interview, Woodward asked what Trump and Xi were talking about in a phone call the previous day. Trump said: “We were talking mostly about the virus ... It goes through the air. That’s always tougher than the touch. You don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed.
“And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”
A week after that interview, Trump said at a White House briefing that the number of US coronavirus cases “within a couple days is going to be down close to zero.”
“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told Woodward on March 19, days after he declared a national emergency. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
CNN on Wednesday broadcast interviews Woodward did with Trump.
The book, to go on sale next Tuesday, just weeks before the November 3 presidential election, comes amid criticism of Trump’s efforts to battle COVID-19.
The Republican president, assailed by his Democratic rival Joe Biden over the slow US government response to the coronavirus, played down the crisis for months as it took hold and spread across the country.
In the March 19 conversation, Trump told Woodward that some “startling facts” had emerged showing the extent of those at risk: “It’s not just old, older. Young people too, plenty of young people.”
Trump on Wednesday defended his handling of the virus, which has killed more than 190,000 people in the United States.
“The fact is I’m a cheerleader for this country. I love our country and I don’t want people to be frightened,” Trump said at the White House. “We’ve done well from any standard.”
Woodward conducted 18 interviews with Trump for the book.
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