President Trump admitted on Wednesday that he had dealt with the novel coronavirus earlier this year, arguing that he wanted to "reduce panic" about the disease by publicly minimizing its risk. Are
Trump's comments came as journalists faced
a new scrutiny of dealing with the epidemic after the release of an audio
recording of his interview with Bob Woodward for a new journalist's book.
In the recording, the president privately
acknowledged that COVID-19 was "deadly" in early February, yet
dismissed general concerns about the virus at the time.
"If you said reduce panic, that's
probably it," Trump said Wednesday afternoon when asked if he reduced the
virus or misled the public to avoid panic.
"The fact is, I'm in a good mood for
this country. I love my country," Trump continued. "I don't want
people to be scared. I don't want to create panic, as you say, and I certainly
won't drive this country or the world into a frenzy."
"We want to show confidence," he
added. We want to show strength. We as a nation want to show strength.
Trump did not counter the idea that his
efforts to reduce the risk of the virus were part of a deliberate strategy.
"We don't have to be intimidated. We
won't be intimidated, and that's what I did," he said. "And I was
very open, whether it's Woodward or someone else. It's just another political
hit - but it was Woodward or someone else, you can't show a sense of panic or
you're bigger than ever." Have to be
The remarks mark Trump's first reaction to
the uproar over his comments about Woodward over the next week in the
journalist's forthcoming book, Rage. Audio recordings of Woodward's interview
with Trump were released’ early Wednesday. Among them, Trump tells Woodward
that he "always wants to play down [the virus]" to avoid creating
panic.
But the president was privately aware of
the dangers of the virus as early as February, before it became widespread in
the United States.
"It goes through the air," Trump
said of Code 19 on February 7, according to an audio broadcast by CNN.
"It's always harder to touch. You don't have to touch things. Okay? But
wind, you just breathe air, and that's how it passed. And so it's a very
difficult thing. "It's very delicate. That's it. More deadly than your
severe pollution."
Publicly, Trump repeatedly reduced the
risk of the virus. They diagnosed it with the common flu in February, and
predicted that the virus would disappear in April when the weather warmed up.
He has argued on several occasions that the virus is "disappearing",
and even scientists say it will not be eradicated’ without a wide range of
vaccines.
Trump defended his response to the virus on Wednesday, saying the government had done "incredible work" and questioned why administration officials did not praise the media any further.The United States has the highest number of virus infections and deaths in any country in the world at more than 6.3 million, respectively, and about 190,000 people in the United States test positive for the virus every day, and hundreds die from the virus every day.
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