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About two months before the presidential election, a revelation book by Bob Woodward (77) about Donald Trump (74) causes great excitement. The famous journalist who started the Watergate affair is releasing his new book “Rage” about the current US president next week. The first extracts and sound recordings were already published on Wednesday by the station “CNN” and the newspaper “Washington Post”. And they have it all!
BLICK answers the biggest questions about the revelations from Bob Woodward, the journalist who had already toppled President Richard Nixon (1969-1974) with his investigation.
How did Woodward do it?
The 77-year-old journalist legend conducted a total of 18 interviews with the president of the United States between December and July for his book, and recorded them with the permission of Donald Trump. So there is no doubt about the veracity of the information.
What exactly came out?
Much! It is primarily about the crown policy of the president of the United States. Background: Trump always downplayed the pandemic in the spring. In late February he described the whole thing as a “Democratic hoax.” A little later he predicted that the problem would disappear “miraculously” by April and compared the coronavirus to the seasonal flu.
Now the released sound recordings show clearly: Donald Trump was well aware of the dangers, but deliberately belittled them. “I always wanted to downplay it. I still like to downplay it because I don’t want to panic, ”the president revealed in a conversation on March 19.
Woodward further reveals an intelligence briefing held at the White House on January 28. Robert O’Brien (54), Trump’s national security adviser, informed the US president at the time that the virus would be the “greatest threat to national security” of his presidency. Trump was scared.
The third revelation is about an interview Woodward had with the president on February 7. Two days earlier, Trump had been acquitted by the Senate in the impeachment process. Journalist Woodward expected the president to speak about this success. But far from it! Trump said at the beginning of the conversation: “We have suffered an interesting little setback with the virus that is rampant in China.”
At this time, the president of the United States had just learned that the corona virus is transmitted through the air. “It’s very complicated. The virus is also more deadly than normal flu, ”Trump said. Spicy: In public, the president of the United States took a completely different tone in February and compared the virus to the flu. And while Trump knew the dangers, he continued to hold his campaign events with thousands of people.
How are the reactions?
Trump is harshly criticized. Journalist Carl Bernstein (76), who exposed the Watergate affair with Bob Woodward, believes his colleague’s revelations are “more serious” than at Watergate. “That is the worst crime of a president of the United States. And we have the proof of that in the tapes, “he said in an interview on CNN. Thousands upon thousands of people have died because Trump put his own re-election above the safety, health and well-being of the people in the United States, Bernstein said. “We have never had a president who has done something like that.”
Joe Biden (77), Democratic presidential candidate and therefore Trump’s challenger in the November elections, commented on the sound recordings on Wednesday: “I knew how deadly it is and deliberately downplayed it. Worse still, he lied to the American people, ”he said. Tens of thousands of lives could have been saved if Trump had acted faster, Biden added.
Trump’s top virologist and crown expert, Anthony Fauci (79), was more diplomatic on Wednesday, sometimes even defending his boss. “He didn’t give me the impression that he distorted anything,” Fauci told Fox News on Wednesday.
How did Trump and the White House react?
The president of the United States must have been aware of the predicament due to the sound recordings, because for once he did not criticize the media on Wednesday. Trump defended his approach. “The last thing you want is to panic in the country,” he said. They wanted to show “confidence” and “strength”. At the same time, Trump defended his crown policy and referred to measures such as travel restrictions to China and Europe.
Even before Trump’s remarks, his spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said at the daily briefing at the White House: “The president has never lied to the American public about Covid.” However, one of his tasks is to keep the population calm. “The president never downplayed the virus. The president was calm. I was hopeful, ”said McEnany (32).
What else has been revealed?
During their conversations, Trump told Woodward about a new nuclear program. “I have built a nuclear weapons system, a weapon system that no one in this country has ever had,” said the US president. Woodward interviewed several senior officials about this. Everyone was surprised that Trump had revealed the program to a journalist.
Trump’s relationship with Kim Jong Un was also repeatedly discussed. The president of the United States met three times with the North Korean ruler. It also emerged that the two heads of state had written to each other. Trump called Kim Jong Un a “good friend” in public who sent him “wonderful letters.” Woodward was now the first journalist to see some of Kim Jong Un’s letters.
What do Kim’s letters to Trump say?
The tone is special. Kim repeatedly calls Trump “Your Excellency,” which Woodward said would particularly please US presidents. “He’s more than smart,” Trump said of the North Korean rulers.
In a letter, the dictator Kim writes that he is in favor of another historic meeting with “His Excellency.” The first summit in Singapore reminded Kim of “scenes from a fantasy movie.” Describes meetings with Trump as “precious memories.” They would underline how the “deep and special friendship between us will function as a magical force.”
In a second letter that Trump showed Woodward, Kim Trump once again rubs his mouth with honey: “I am delighted to have established good relations with such a powerful and outstanding statesman as His Excellency.” And on another occasion, Kim reflects on “that moment in history when I held tightly to His Excellency’s hand in the beautiful and holy place while the whole world watched with great interest.”
Will the revelations minimize Trump’s election chances?
First of all, it should be noted that the public has only seen some excerpts from the book “Rage”, which will be published next week. The biggest revelation so far is Trump’s admission that he deliberately downplayed the coronavirus pandemic, which killed 190,000 Americans.
Some media claim that this issue could affect Trump politically. “The Independent” even writes that Bob Woodward made Trump’s opponent Joe Biden president with his book. Political scientists were cautious in their initial reactions. The first effects could be seen in the polls next week.
