The US President, Donald Trump has defended a secret audio that was released by Bob Woodward along with the excerpt of his book titled ‘rage’ which is scheduled to be released next week.
The audio revealed that Trump knew the danger Coronavirus posed to the American people as far back as February 2019.
The US President had granted the interview to Woodward on February 7 where he admitted knowing the severity of the virus.
You May Also Like
In the audio, Trump admitted that the virus was deadlier than flu even as Trump continued to mislead the general public, including disregarding measures put in place to curb the spread.
In another interview on March 19, Trump told Woodward that he was downplaying the severity of the virus intentionally. ‘I wanted to always play it down,’ Trump said.
The audio came from 18 interviews which were granted by the President between December 2019 and July 21, 2020.
According to the audio excerpts “were recorded by Woodward with Trump’s permission,” CNN wrote. In the February 7 interview, Trump noted that the flu kills 25,000 or 30,000 people a year in the United States
“This is more deadly,” Trump then told Woodward, referring to the coronavirus. (So far, about 190,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.)
“It goes through air, Bob,” Trump said. “That’s always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch, you don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed.” The coronavirus is “more deadly than… even your strenuous flus,” Trump added.
When queried about the audio on Wednesday at the White House, Trump quickly capitalised on the journalists question that he had downplayed the virus to avoid public ‘frenzy’
Trump said If you say in order to reduce panic, perhaps so, in fact, I am a cheerleader for this country, I love our country and I don’t want people to be frightened, I don’t’ want to create panic as you say, and certainly, I am not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy.
“We want to show confidence, we want to show strength, we want to show strength as a nation but we don’t want to instil panic, we don’t’ want to jump up and down and start shouting that we have a problem, a tremendous problem to scare everybody.
“I tell you another thing, we immediately started buying all over the world, masks, gowns and everything else. We don’t want pricing to go up to a level to that becomes almost unaffordable and in that sense, I agree with you.”
When asked by another journalist ‘how the public can trust him going forward’ after misleading the people for months, the President said “I think that is really a big part of a trust, we have to have leadership, we have to show leadership and the last thing you want to do is show panic in the country.
“This was a horrible thing, it was sent to us by China, it should not have happened, it should never have happened. This is a disgusting, terrible situation that was foisted upon us.”
The President in previous months had compared the virus to seasonal flu, assuring people that it will ‘miraculously go away’.
Trump said publicly on February 27 news conference that “View this the same as the flu. When someone sneezes, I try and bail out as much as possible with the sneezing.”
He said in another news conference that “Whatever happens, we’re totally prepared.”
On March 9, Trump continued his lies via tweets that “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”
The Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Anthony Fauci disagreed with the President when he told Congress that Coronavirus “is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu” and that “it’s going to get worse.”
On March 24, despite thousands of death recorded, Trump continued to compare COVID-19 with ordinary flu.
He said on Fox News, his preferred news channel at a virtual town hall that “We’ve had horrible flus… but we’ve never closed down the country for the flu. So you say to yourself, ‘What is this all about?’
Then on March 19 during an interview with Woodward, Trump said “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.”
More Stories
Burglar Bags 3 years in Jail After Breaking Into Halfords Shop in Peterborough
One Person killed, Three Others Wounded in a Shooting in Brixton
Nigeria and Britain Seal Major Port Deal and Landmark Migration Agreements
55-year-old Man Shot Dead in Stonebridge in Brent
Murder Investigation Launched After 40-year-old Man Stabbed to Death in Maida Vale
