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The Republican, who is down in the polls against Democrat Joe Biden and faces overwhelming disapproval from Americans for his handling of the coronavirus crisis, insisted that he had softened the dangers in public to remain calm.
US President Donald Trump addresses supporters during a campaign rally at MBS International Airport in Freeland, Michigan, on September 10, 2020. Image: AFP.
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump on Thursday denied lying to Americans about the severity of the coronavirus after an explosive new book by journalist Bob Woodward revealed that he deliberately downplayed the crisis.
Trump’s recorded admission to Woodward that he downplayed the pandemic in public, while aware from the start of the unique danger posed by COVID-19, has sounded the alarm bells less than eight weeks before Election Day.
Asked at a hastily organized White House press conference “Why did you lie to the American people?” Trump replied, “I didn’t lie.”
The Republican, who is down in the polls against Democrat Joe Biden and faces overwhelming disapproval from Americans for his handling of the coronavirus crisis, insisted that he had softened the dangers in public to remain calm.
“I don’t want to jump in and start yelling ‘Death! Death!'” He argued.
But Trump has been thrown to the defense after multiple excerpts and recordings from Woodward’s book _Rage _ were released on Wednesday.
After two Fox News interviews, dozens of tweets and the press conference, Trump continued his attempt to get his election message back on track by holding a rally with supporters in Freeland, Michigan.
He told the excited crowd that his approach to COVID-19 matched that of the British government in WWII with its famous morale-boosting posters “Keep Calm and Carry On.”
Apparently referring to Woodward, he referred in his speech to “this crazy job that wrote the book.”
DISCLOSURES
The anger is rife with alarming episodes, including the assessment by Trump’s then-national intelligence director, the respected Dan Coats, that the president “doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies.”
But the segments in which Trump frankly discusses the coronavirus pandemic, responsible for the deaths of nearly 200,000 Americans, are receiving the most attention.
Despite openly describing to Woodward the dangerous characteristics of the then-unknown virus, including the fact that it is transmitted through the air, Trump said “I always wanted to downplay it.”
Trump went on to explain to Woodward that he wanted to avoid causing panic. However, his acknowledgment that he did not tell the country the plain truth sparked outrage.
Critics quickly resurrected his multiple statements from the early stages of the pandemic in which he told the public that it was no worse than a normal flu and gleefully predicted that it would “go away” in a short period of time.
“I knew how deadly it was,” Biden said Wednesday.
“He lied to the American people. He consciously and willingly lied about the threat he posed to the country for months.”
I CAN’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER
Trump generally fights criticism by blaming what he calls “fake news” and stating that there are no anonymous sources commonly used in White House reports.
But shooting the messenger won’t work in the case of Rage. The revelations are primarily based on Trump himself and Woodward, famous for taking down Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal, has released recordings.
At an excavation in Woodward Thursday, Trump tweeted that if the legendary reporter thought the quotes were “so bad or dangerous, why didn’t he immediately report them in an effort to save lives?”
“Because I knew they were good and appropriate answers. Take it easy, don’t panic!” Trump argued.
Yet many in Washington wonder why Trump would grant Woodward so much access in an election year. The reporter obtained 18 interviews with the president and was completely open about his recording.
“I did it out of curiosity,” was Trump’s explanation on Thursday.
According to White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Trump went ahead “because he is the most transparent president in history.”
Trump, who has a lifetime of experience in the art of selling and acting on television, has in fact set a new record for his unprecedented number of press conferences and impromptu question-and-answer sessions.
But the performances often leave his own staff struggling in damage limitation mode, such as when he reflected at a press conference on the potential benefits of injecting bleach into COVID-19 patients.
In the final race before Election Day on November 3, aides and allies grit their teeth again.
“Honestly, (Woodward’s) access to the White House is probably something that he wouldn’t have recommended if he had been in the chief of staff position from the beginning,” Trump’s current chief of staff Mark Meadows told Fox News.
Karl Rove, the mastermind of the Republican campaign in the George W. Bush era, warned the headline: “If the President does not focus … the occupant of the Oval Office is ready to change.”
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