WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is acknowledging he played down the projected impact of the deadly coronavrius early this year and says he meant to avoid creating a panic.
A new book by journalist Bob Woodward reveals that Trump told Woodward he had been warned in January that the virus had the potential to kill millions.
Trump told Woodward that he knew the coronavirus was more deadly and contagious than the flu while he continued to downplay its dangers to the public, in the book titled “Rage.”
Yet Trump reassured Americans publicly that the virus was “very well under control.”
‘If you said ‘in order to reduce panic,’ perhaps that’s so’ — Trump just admitted that he did mislead the public on COVID-19 to ‘reduce panic’ pic.twitter.com/bVXxipViLc
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) September 9, 2020
Today, nearly 195,000 Americans have died so far and millions have been infected.
More in this report from Fox Radio News:
Meantime, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Fox News that he would “not have recommended” Woodward be given access to Trump for interviews, but added that Trump’s ‘candid comments shows that he has nothing to hide.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says Trump “lied to the American people” and failed to do his job.
.@JoeBiden on President Trump's interview with Bob Woodward on COVID-19: "He knew and purposely played it down. Worse, he lied to the American people. He knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months." pic.twitter.com/Fq00DFWP61
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 9, 2020
