– He lied to us for months – VG

“Donald Trump knew it. He lied to us for months. As a deadly disease swept through our nation, it didn’t do its job, on purpose.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden writes on Twitter.

Also the New York Democrat Chuck schumer and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton writes on Twitter that the president lied on purpose.

In recently released audio recordings, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, can now be heard in his own words, how he manipulated the American population into believing that the coronavirus was much less dangerous than he himself knew it to be. .

The audio recordings have been published by CNN, in connection with journalist-nestor Bob Woodward in the Washington Post’s forthcoming book, “Rage.” Woodward is one of two journalists behind the revelations of the 1974 Watergate scandal.

In one of the recordings, Trump tells Woodward over the phone that he is fully aware that the coronavirus is far more deadly than a normal virus and that the United States is facing a dangerous pandemic. In a subsequent conversation on March 19, Trump is said to have admitted that he deliberately downplayed the danger of the virus.

“I wanted to downplay it, I didn’t want to panic,” he told Woodward.

Journalist Carl Bernstein, who uncovered the Watergate scandal with Bob Woodward in 1974, tells CNN that he believes the audio recordings show that the president did not act in the best interest of the nation.

“We hear him cover up this serious national crisis. This is one of the greatest presidential crimes in history, perhaps the greatest,” he says.

Biden: Could have saved 54,000 lives

– The day in the US 190,000 died of covid-19, we learned from Washington Post commentator Bob Woodword, that on Friday, February 7, on tape, Trump says he knew that covid-19 is transmitted through the air. He knew how deadly the virus was. He knew it and downplayed the people of America. He lied about the threat to the country for months. It was a life or death betrayal, Biden said.

He added, among other things, that if Donald Trump had reacted two weeks earlier, 54,000 lives could have been saved in the United States, in March and February alone.

– The financial costs are enormous. The recession is created by Trump’s reaction, he is not appropriate for this job, says Joe Biden in a televised speech from CNN.

Trump: I would not panic

Donald Trump held a short question and answer session with the press on Wednesday night Norwegian time. With a sharp attitude, he listened to questions from journalists:

– Have you seduced the people of America?

– I don’t want people to be afraid or to panic. We wanted to show calm and strength. We have done well, very well in relation to many other countries. We have done a brilliant job, especially in terms of fans, and we will have a vaccine soon. We didn’t want to jump up and scream that we have a violent problem that scares people, the president said.

– How do you assure the people of the United States that you can trust what you say?

– The last thing you should do is panic. This heinous situation was thrown at us, Trump said, among other things.

– Are you responsible for the around 200,000 deaths in the country?

– If we had not reacted so quickly, we could have had millions of deaths. We close early and efficiently. We learned with the world, then we opened up. Now we know who is attacking who is vulnerable. But we shouldn’t lose anyone. China released something, but did not stop it.

Surprised that I say it on tape

Jan Arild Snoen, journalist and commentator for Minerva, is surprised that Trump says things that will put him in a bad position, when he knows that the conversation will be recorded.

– Trump’s strategy is to deny. I could have done it here, if it hadn’t been recorded. Perhaps it indicates overconfidence, says Jan Arild Snoen.

Many wonder how Donald Trump could have been so sincere over and over again when he was talking to Woodward.

Donald Trump press officer Kayleigh McEnany I had this response to a press release:

– Because he is the most transparent president of all time.

It doesn’t ruin for Trump

Snoen still doesn’t think this particularly affects the president’s support.

– This is one of the hundred times we say that, now, it has gone too far. I don’t think it has any effect. There have been things that you have said and wanted in the media for almost five years, and I don’t see this changing this.

– But it’s serious and it doesn’t seem good that he knew about it in early February and then says something else for several months afterward, says Snoen.

– Now “fake news” is not useful

Lead researcher Svein Melby from the Department of Defense Studies says his first reaction is the severity of what emerges.

– Now President Trump confirms that he was well informed by experts at an early stage that it was an extremely dangerous virus. Then he says otherwise in public. It is completely reprehensible. It is absolutely crucial to play open cards and to tell pure facts, also about uncertainty, as was done here at home. Build trust in the population around the measures and also around the experts, says Melby.

– Is the web starting to revolve around Trump now?

-This case is probably even more serious for him, because here he cannot say that journalists lie. Here you hear him say what he says. There is no use here to say that the media is “fake news”, that it often gets its way. Here he is caught by his own words, says Melby.

However, Melby thinks it is uncertain whether the fans, who usually stick with it and flare up with him, will withdraw support after this.

– The large group of white middle class perceives him as a protector of what they consider their America and its culture.