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President Donald Trump has acknowledged that he has known how deadly and dangerous the coronavirus has been since February, many weeks before the first confirmed death occurred because it occurred in the United States. The confessions were recorded by American journalist Bob Woodward, and the revelations were also detailed in his book “Rage” (eng. Anger), which will be released on September 15, reports CNN.
In the recordings, Donald Trump can be heard saying that he knows how dangerous, lethal and contagious the virus is, “much more lethal even than the most dangerous flu” but that he publicly minimizes it and will continue to do so repeatedly.
The president’s confessions are in stark contrast to his public comments in which he constantly insisted that the virus “will go away soon” and that “everything will be fine.” In early February, when transmission of the virus to the United States was still very low and the measures could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, Trump, who had told Woodward, on record, that he knew how deadly the virus was, decided to keep this information hidden from the public.
“I’ve always wanted to downplay the situation. I still want to do this because I don’t want to panic,” Trump said on March 19, days after the situation became so dire that it became necessary to establish a state of emergency.
If instead of downplaying the crisis, the president acted decisively in early February, implementing clear rules and a widespread quarantine, experts say thousands of lives could have been saved. Right now, nearly 200,000 Americans have died from infection with the new coronavirus.
Trump has been informed since January 28 of the seriousness of the situation
The confessions of the American president were made for a period of 8 months, between December 5, 2019 and July 21, 2020, and the interviews were conducted by Bob Woodward with Trump’s permission. CNN obtained the audio recordings before the book was published.
The US president received information about the severity of the virus on January 28, when his national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, warned that a coronavirus crisis would be “the greatest threat to national security” since his presidency.
O’Brien’s deputy Matt Pottinger confirmed that the new coronavirus could be nearly as dangerous as the Spanish flu, which has killed more than 50 million people worldwide, including 675,000 Americans. Pottinger warned Trump that asymptomatic transmission was high in China and that 50% of those infected had no symptoms. At that time, the United States had reported only a few dozen coronavirus cases.
Three days later, the US president announced travel restrictions from China, a decision suggested by his team of national security advisers, despite claims by the president that he was the only one who supported the idea.
However, Trump continued to downplay the situation and February was a lost month in terms of action. Woodward believes this is the great missed opportunity for Trump, immediately after he was warned of the urgency of the situation.
“Presidents are part of the executive branch. They have a duty to warn, listen, plan and care.” In the days after the January 28 meeting, Trump did nothing more than play down the threat and convince the public that there was no risks.
Woodward asked Trump in May if he remembered O’Brien’s warning, but the president said no: “No, I don’t remember, I’m sure he said it. He’s a good kid.”
Editor: Adrian Dumitru
