President Trump admitted that he wanted to publicly downplay the threat of the coronavirus even as his advisors warned him about the dangers of the disease, Bob Woodward wrote in his forthcoming book.
Despite a tape of the president saying he downplayed the coronavirus — and despite him saying on that tape that he still likes "playing it down" — White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at a briefing later Wednesday that Trump "never downplayed the virus."
Despite his frequent claims that the disease would simply "go away" or "disappear," Trump reportedly told Woodward in a Feb. 7 phone call that he understood the virus was "more deadly than even your strenuous flu." The U.S. has now reported more infections and deaths from Covid-19 than any other country on the planet: More than 6.32 million cases and at least 189,600 deaths,"Rage," Woodward's second book on Trump's presidency, is due out Sept. 15. The book is based in part on 18 interviews Woodward conducted with Trump between December and July, the Post reported.
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