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The president of United States, Donald Trump, admitted that he tried to minimize the lethal threat of the new coronavirus in early pandemicaccording to newly released excerpts from a new book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward.
“I always wanted to downplay it”, Trump said in an interview with Woodward on March 19, according to a CNN preview of the book “Rage,” due to be published on September 15.
“I still like to minimize it, because I don’t want to create panic”, said in conversation with Woodward on March 19, which was recorded.
On the contrary, in an earlier interview with Woodward on February 7, he made it clear that he understood the virus to be “deadly” and far more dangerous than the common flu.
Yet Trump has since been repeatedly saying in public that the virus should not be considered a great danger and that it will “go away” on its own.
Trump only began wearing a face mask in public in July.
At first, he also frequently praised the Chinese government’s response, and later changed his rhetoric, blaming Beijing for the global health crisis.
Deaths from covid-19 are expected to soon surpass 200,000 in the United States.
The president has repeatedly repeated that he has managed the pandemic successfully, pointing to his early decisions to ban travel from China, where the virus was first detected, and from the worst-affected places in Europe.
Yet opinion polls show that two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Trump’s actions.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that Trump’s only motivation to downplay the dangers had been to reassure the public.
“It is important to express confidence, it is important to express calm,” he said. “The president has never lied to the American public about covid-19.”
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