Donald Trump deliberately downplayed COVID-19, according to Woodward book

New recordings of US President Donald Trump paint a startlingly different picture to months of him publicly stating COVID-19 will “disappear”.

US President Donald Trump knew the coronavirus crisis was deadlier than the flu but “wanted to always play it down”, according to a new book by investigative journalist Bob Woodward.

“This is deadly stuff,” Mr Trump told Woodward in a phone call on February 7.

“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed.

“And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu.

He emphasised: “This is deadly stuff.”

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US President Donald Trump. Picture: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

According to the book, Rage, national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien had told the President 10 days earlier the pandemic would be the “roughest thing you face”.

In late February, when there were dozens of cases in the US as opposed to millions, Donald Trump was telling the American people COVID-19 was “like a regular flu” and “going to disappear”.

“One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear,” he told reporters.

It was a belief he reiterated in July.

In August, Mr Trump tweeted that Woodward’s new book “will be a FAKE”.

“As always, just as many others have been,” he said.

...The Bob Woodward book will be a FAKE, as always, just as many of the others have been. But, believe it or not, lately I’ve been getting lots of GREAT books!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2020

Woodward is the associate editor at The Washington Post and is known for his reporting on the Watergate scandal.

The quotes in his latest book come from recordings of his conversations with Mr Trump after 18 on-the-record interviews between December 2019 and July 2020.

Copies of the audio tapes were obtained by CNN including on March 19 when Woodward asked Mr Trump about his “pivot”.

He asked: “Give me a moment of talking to somebody, going through this with (Dr Anthony) Fauci or somebody who kind of, it caused a pivot in your mind. Because it’s clear, just from what’s on the public record, that you went through a pivot on this to, ‘oh my god, the gravity is almost inexplicable and unexplainable’.”

The President replied: “Well I think, Bob, really, to be honest with you ... I wanted to always play it down.”

“I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic,” he said.

He had declared a national emergency – “two very big words” – over the virus days earlier.

Associate Editor of the Washington Post Bob Woodward reveals the conversations with Donald Trump in his new book Rage. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

While speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Mr Trump was asked if he had misled the public or downplayed the virus.

“If you said in order to reduce panic, perhaps that’s so,” he replied.

“You have to show leadership, and leadership is confidence in our country.

“I’m a cheerleader for this country. I don’t want people to be frightened. I don’t want to create panic.”

He described the book, to be released next Tuesday, September 15, as “just another political hit job”.

According to the Post, Woodwards writes: “Trump never did seem willing to fully mobilize the federal government and continually seemed to push problems off on the states.”

“There was no real management theory of the case or how to organize a massive enterprise to deal with one of the most complex emergencies the United States had ever faced,” the veteran journalist said.

According to a tally from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, there have been more than 6.33 million cases of COVID-19 recorded in the US and more than 189,000 deaths.

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Speaking on Wednesday, he said he did not people to be frightened by the coronavirus crisis. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

WHITE HOUSE RESPONSE

Earlier on Wednesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended Mr Trump.

“When you are facing insurmountable challenges, it is important to express confidence, it is important to express calm,” she told reporters in a briefing from the White House.

“He makes clear that he doesn’t want to see chaos, by the way, which is the second part of the quote which you failed to read,” she continued, addressing a reporter who had read part of the quote.

“The president just days after having this discussion with Bob Woodward, said this from this podium, on March 30, he said, ‘I do want them to stay calm, we are doing a great job, if you look at the individual statements they are all true, stay calm, it will go away but it’s important to stay calm’.

“So this president does what leaders do – good leaders – it’s stay calm and resolute at a time when you face an insurmountable challenge.”

BIDEN SAYS PRESIDENT BETRAYED AMERICANS

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said the President had “failed to do his job on purpose”.

Mr Biden said: “It was a life and death betrayal of the American people.”

“He knew and purposely played it down,” he said before a campaign speech in Michigan.

“He knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months.”

I promise you that if I’m elected, I’ll always tell you the truth.

I’ll listen to the experts and do everything I can to contain this virus.

And I’ll always put your health and safety first — no matter the political cost.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 9, 2020

Former CIA director John O. Brennan described the President as an “absolute abomination”.

MSNBC morning show co-host and political commentator Mika Brzezinski said the comments “all on tape” were “catastrophic”.

Senior Democrat Chuck Schumer said Mr Trump had “lied, and people died”.

Woodward’s fellow Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein described it as “the smoking gun of his negligence”.

In his comments to Bob Woodward, Donald Trump reveals what an absolute abomination he is.

If he had a conscience or a soul, he would resign.

Tragically for us, he has neither.

— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) September 9, 2020

This is catastrophic + it is all on tape. @realDonaldTrump KNEW how deadly the virus was — he cost American lives “downplaying it”. He admits this on tape. 200 thousand dead while he downplayed it. He lied 2 the American people and then was stupid enough to admit this to Woodward

— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) September 9, 2020

Bob Woodward has apparently for more than half a year had tapes of Donald Trump saying everything in private that he's been denying in public and Woodward has just been sitting on them?

— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) September 9, 2020

There is an epic amount of finger-pointing going on at the White House right now about who's to blame for a group of grown adults in serious positions in government - and in one case the president - talking to Woodward.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 9, 2020

You don't need Bob Woodward's new book to know that Donald Trump played down coronavirus

166 days ago, Donald Trump called coronavirus a "hoax" at a campaign rally

— The Hardy Report Podcast (@EdwardTHardy) September 9, 2020

Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein reacts to Bob Woodward's conversation with Donald Trump.

"We are listening to the President of the United States, on tape, deliberately undermining the... national security of the United States... It is the smoking gun of his negligence." pic.twitter.com/BKudA3sk88

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) September 9, 2020

With Fox News