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Donald Trump has defended his approach in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic following claims that he admitted he was downplaying the US outbreak.
According to Rage, a new book by journalist Bob Woodward, the US President seemed to understand the threat of COVID-19 while telling the nation that it was no worse than the flu.
“This is deadly,” Trump is quoted as saying on February 7. “It’s also deadlier than even your energetic blush.”
On March 19, Woodward says Trump told her, “I always wanted to downplay it. I still like to downplay it because I don’t want to create a panic.”
Donald Trump told a journalist that he was downplaying the coronavirus outbreak in the US.
When asked about the comments during a briefing at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said he tried to avoid panic in the United States in the weeks after the first cases were recorded.
He said: “We have to show calm. [I’m] I’m certainly not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy.
“We don’t want to go around yelling, ‘Look at this, look at this.’
The book also claims that the president was told that the coronavirus would be “the greatest threat to national security” he would face during his tenure.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has called Trump’s comments “beyond despicable.”
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Speaking at a rally in Michigan, Biden said: “It was a life and death betrayal of the American people. It is beyond despicable. It is a dereliction of duty, a disgrace.”
“He knew how deadly it was. He knew it and he purposely downplayed it. Worse still, he lied.”
The United States has had the largest COVID-19 outbreak in the world, with more than 6.3 million confirmed cases and more than 190,000 coronavirus-related deaths.
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