Audio Leaked: Trump Admits 'Deadly' Risk of Coronavirus in Woodward Audio Leaked | He’s Telling The Truth

 

Audio Leaked: Why Does Trump Sound So Different Talking About COVID-19 To Bob Woodward? He’s Telling The Truth

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An upcoming book by journalist Bob Woodward, title Rage, has detailed conversations with US President Donald Trump where he admits to playing down the seriousness of the coronavirus as early as February, in order to avoid creating panic.

“I always wanted to play it down…I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic,” Trump told Woodward on March 19, CNN reported after accessing the book ahead of its September 15 release.

By now, it's no secret that President Trump has created a veritable circus out of pandemic press conference. Since February, when COVID-19 first entered the U.S., Trump has downplayed the severity of the novel virus that has now killed more than 190,000 Americans. But according to Bob Woodward's forthcoming book, Rage, Trump's understanding of the risk of COVID-19 was much deeper than it appeared. Woodward reports that the president knew it was a legitimate and concerning threat but chose to “play it down” in the hopes it would “disappear.”

In audiotapes of an interview between Woodward and Trump on February 7, weeks before the first reported death from the virus in the U.S., Trump talks about how deadly it is. “It’s a very tricky situation. It goes through the air, Bob. That’s always tougher than the touch, the touch you don’t have to touch things, but the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump says. “It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu… This is more deadly, this is five percent versus one percent or less than one percent. So this is deadly stuff.”

Unlike earlier tell-alls released by those who have been close to Trump since he took office, this book’s revelations are accompanied by audiotapes—Woodward was known to have recorded his interviews and one of the recordings shows that Trump was plenty aware of how dangerous coronavirus was in March.

“Now it’s turning out its not just old people, Bob. Just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It’s not just older [people]...” Trump tells Woodward, adding “young people, too, plenty of young people”. This recording, released by CNN, was taken on March 19.

On February 9, Trump was publicly adamant that the common flu, which he said killed 25,000-69,000 people a year, was more dangerous than the coronavirus. That same month, he said the virus would go away in April because it would be killed by heat.

When speaking with Woodward, however, Trump was more forthright. “This is deadly stuff,” he said on February 7, adding that it was “more deadly” than the flu and that he knew it could be spread through airborne transmission.

The revelations suggest Trump outright lied to the American public in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic when little more than a dozen people had the virus. By March 18, Trump declared a national emergency and by April 11, the US had the highest death toll in the world. As of September 9, the US had over 6.5 million cases and nearly 2 lakh deaths from the virus.

In a press briefing held on Wednesday, the White House has since denied that the president lied to the public. “The President has never lied to the American public on COVID,” White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany said. “He was expressing calm and he was taking early action and his actions are reflective of how seriously he took COVID,” she said.

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