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Woodward book: Trump says he knew coronavirus was ‘deadly’ and worse than the flu while intentionally misleading public

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Wraith

Wraith

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Jun 28, 2018
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Woodward book: Trump says he knew coronavirus was 'deadly' and worse than the flu while intentionally misleading Americans (WaPo)
President Trump's head popped up during his top-secret intelligence briefing in the Oval Office on Jan. 28 when the discussion turned to the novel coronavirus outbreak in China.

"This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency," national security adviser Robert O'Brien told Trump, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward. "This is going to be the roughest thing you face."

Matthew Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser, agreed. He told the president that after reaching contacts in China, it was evident that the world faced a health emergency on par with the flu pandemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide.

Ten days later, Trump called Woodward and revealed that he thought the situation was far more dire than what he had been saying publicly.

"You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed," Trump said in a Feb. 7 call. "And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flu."

"This is deadly stuff," the president repeated for emphasis.
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At that time, Trump was telling the nation that the virus was no worse than a seasonal flu, predicting it would soon disappear, and insisting that the U.S. government had it totally under control. It would be several weeks before he would publicly acknowledge that the virus was no ordinary flu and that it could be transmitted through the air.

Trump admitted to Woodward on March 19 that he deliberately minimized the danger. "I wanted to always play it down," the president said.
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EDIT - See the CNN article posted by Christian below for some audio clips from Woodward's interviews with Trump.
www.cnn.com

'Play it down': Trump admits to concealing the true threat of coronavirus in new Woodward book

President Donald Trump admitted he knew weeks before the first confirmed US coronavirus death that the virus was dangerous, airborne, highly contagious and "more deadly than even your strenuous flus," and that he repeatedly played it down publicly, according to legendary journalist Bob Woodward...
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com
 
Last edited:
Xando

Xando

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Oct 28, 2017
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"You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed," Trump said in a Feb. 7 call. "And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flu."
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Fuck this asshole
 
Audio clips in CNN article
  • Index
    • Christian

    Christian

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    Oct 25, 2017
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    www.cnn.com

    'Play it down': Trump admits to concealing the true threat of coronavirus in new Woodward book

    President Donald Trump admitted he knew weeks before the first confirmed US coronavirus death that the virus was dangerous, airborne, highly contagious and "more deadly than even your strenuous flus," and that he repeatedly played it down publicly, according to legendary journalist Bob Woodward...
    www.cnn.com www.cnn.com

    From the CNN article:

    "Rage" also includes brutal assessments of Trump's presidency from many of his former top national security officials, including former Defense Secretary James Mattis, former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Mattis is quoted as calling Trump "dangerous" and "unfit" to be commander in chief. Woodward writes that Coats "continued to harbor the secret belief, one that had grown rather than lessened, although unsupported by intelligence proof, that Putin had something on Trump." Woodward continues, writing that Coats felt, "How else to explain the president's behavior? Coats could see no other explanation."
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    The book highlights how the President took all of the credit and none of the responsibility for his actions related to the pandemic, which has infected 6 million Americans and killed more than 185,000 in the US.

    "The virus has nothing to do with me," Trump told Woodward in their final interview in July. "It's not my fault. It's — China let the damn virus out."
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    By March 19, when Trump told Woodward he was purposely downplaying the dangers to avoid creating a panic, he also acknowledged the threat to young people. "Just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It's not just old, older. Young people too, plenty of young people," Trump said.

    Publicly, however, Trump has continued to insist just the opposite, saying as recently as August 5 that children were "almost immune."

    Even into April, when the US became the country with the most confirmed cases in the world, Trump's public statements contradicted his acknowledgements to Woodward. At an April 3 coronavirus task force briefing, Trump was still downplaying the virus and stating that it would go away. "I said it's going away and it is going away," he said. Yet two days later on April 5, Trump again told Woodward, "It's a horrible thing. It's unbelievable," and on April 13, he said, "It's so easily transmissible, you wouldn't even believe it."
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    There's a lot here, and none of it is good.
     
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    • BWoog

    BWoog

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    Oct 27, 2017
    38,299
    It's always a toss up whether he's a fucking idiot when it comes to stuff like this or an evil piece of shit. It's usually both.
     
    OP
    OP
    Wraith

    Wraith

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    Jun 28, 2018
    8,892
    Christian said:
    www.cnn.com

    'Play it down': Trump admits to concealing the true threat of coronavirus in new Woodward book

    President Donald Trump admitted he knew weeks before the first confirmed US coronavirus death that the virus was dangerous, airborne, highly contagious and "more deadly than even your strenuous flus," and that he repeatedly played it down publicly, according to legendary journalist Bob Woodward...
    www.cnn.com www.cnn.com

    From the CNN article:







    There's a lot here, and none of it is good.
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    Lordy...
     
    BFIB

    BFIB

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    Oct 25, 2017
    11,677
    Trump can't deny it either because there's audio tapes of this too if I read that right.
     

    Ravensmash

    Member
    Oct 25, 2017
    8,797
    Completely forgot Woodward had a follow up coming out.

    Going to be an interesting read.

    And yikes....
    "Trump admitted to Woodward on March 19 that he deliberately minimized the danger. "I wanted to always play it down," the president said."
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    That's going to be quote that's remembered in history.
     
    Christian

    Christian

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    Oct 25, 2017
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    From CNN:

    -- Trump has come under fire in recent days for reportedly making disparaging remarks about US military personnel and veterans. Woodward's book includes an anecdote where an aide to Mattis heard Trump say in a meeting, "my f---ing generals are a bunch of pussies" because they cared more about alliances than trade deals. Mattis asked the aide to document the comment in an email to him. And Trump himself criticized military officials to Woodward over their view that alliances with NATO and South Korea are the best bargain the US makes. "I wouldn't say they were stupid, because I would never say that about our military people," Trump said. "But if they said that, they -- whoever said that was stupid. It's a horrible bargain ... they make so much money. Costs us $10 billion. We're suckers."

    -- Woodward reports that Trump's national security team expressed concerns the US may have come close to nuclear war with North Korea amid provocations in 2017. "We never knew whether it was real," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is quoted as saying, "or whether it was a bluff." But it was so serious that Mattis slept in his clothes to be ready in case there was a North Korean launch and repeatedly went to the Washington National Cathedral to pray.

    -- Trump boasted to Woodward about a new secret weapons system. "I have built a nuclear — a weapons system that nobody's ever had in this country before," Trump said. Woodward says other sources confirmed the information, without providing further details, but expressed surprise that Trump disclosed it.
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    SpottieO

    SpottieO

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    Oct 25, 2017
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    Continuing the absolute train wreck of a week that Trump has had... I'm assuming this is going to blow up bigly.
     
    DazzlerIE

    DazzlerIE

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    Oct 25, 2017
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    Can't wait to hear how the Conservative galaxy brains spin this one considering the audio
     
    Neece

    Neece

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    Oct 27, 2017
    9,201
    I stopped reading Fear right in the middle of it because I had a hard time reading about previous scandals while ongoing scandals were in the news in real time. Kind of feel the same way about this upcoming book. I want to read it though.
     
    maxxpower

    maxxpower

    Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
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    Hopefully Trump doesn't get away with a quick death. Hopefully he gets some kind of cancer that slowly and painfully kills him.
     
    Christian

    Christian

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    9,636
    -- Woodward reports new details on Russia's election meddling, writing that the NSA and CIA have classified evidence the Russians had placed malware in the election registration systems of at least two Florida counties, St. Lucie and Washington. While there was no evidence the malware had been activated, Woodward writes, it was sophisticated and could erase voters in specific districts. The voting system vendor used by Florida was also used in states across the country.
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    Musubi

    Musubi

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    Oct 25, 2017
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    I hope he gets it so badly. I want him to experience the agony that all these people dying because of his lack of action have.
     

    Deleted member 1476

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    Let me highlight this quote regarding nuclear war with North Korea before it gets lost

    But it was so serious that Mattis slept in his clothes to be ready in case there was a North Korean launch and repeatedly went to the Washington National Cathedral to pray.
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    Holy shit.
     
    Bentendo24

    Bentendo24

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    Feb 20, 2020
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    I don't care who they are. Rake every politician that put money above lives through the coals
     
    Memento Mori

    Memento Mori

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    Oct 26, 2017
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    Why on Earth did he agree to be interviewed on tape by Bob Woodward? Of all the stupid things he's done, that's up there.
     
    RDreamer

    RDreamer

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    Oct 25, 2017
    14,106
    This man still have like 48% approval. Hillary was wrong. Far more deplorable and outright fucking morons than what she said. Trump's words and actions during this should have him resigned in disgrace and shunned from the public, his party tarred and feathered for a decade or more.

    Fuck this man. Fuck this party. May he get what he deserves at some point in his life.
     
    Orb

    Orb

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    It's kind of baffling to me that Trump would choose to talk to Woodward about anything at all. Like, that's actually wild to me.
     
    DekuBleep

    DekuBleep

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    Oct 25, 2017
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    So not sure I feel good about Woodward holding these nuggets back to publish in his book. Woodward could have written an article in early Feb.

    Anyhow horrible all around.
     
    ItIsOkBro

    ItIsOkBro

    Happy New Year!!
    The Fallen
    Oct 25, 2017
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    Ok why is there an actual audio recording of Trump saying he is playing it down all the way in March that we're just now hearing in September. Maybe if we had this in, I dunno, March, we could have gotten more people to take this seriously.
     
    Chrome Hyena

    Chrome Hyena

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    Oct 30, 2017
    8,770
    Damn. Fauci is gone. Dude gonna be fired by the end of the day.

    Also on another note, book writers take notes, THAT is how you write a book. He got all these people on the record, not just anonymous quotes. He even got audio! Why does Trump do these kind of stupid interviews? dude is sooo full of himself that he can't help himself.
     
    Dark Knight

    Dark Knight

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    Wtf? This dude got more interviews with Trump after already writing a scathing book about him before? How does that work?
     
    Maxim726x

    Maxim726x

    Avenger
    Oct 27, 2017
    13,076
    There is audio. He can't say that its fake news.

    ... Unless it's a deepfake! God damn liberals and their cyber.

    Chrome Hyena said:
    Damn. Fauci is gone. Dude gonna be fired by the end of the day.

    Also on another note, book writers take notes, THAT is how you write a book. He got all these people on the record, not just anonymous quotes. He even got audio! Why does Trump do these kind of stupid interviews? dude is sooo full of himself that he can't help himself.
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    In a sane world, this would hurt him. A lot.

    We'll see what the fallout is.
     
    entremet

    entremet

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    Chrome Hyena said:
    Damn. Fauci is gone. Dude gonna be fired by the end of the day.

    Also on another note, book writers take notes, THAT is how you write a book. He got all these people on the record, not just anonymous quotes. He even got audio! Why does Trump do these kind of stupid interviews? dude is sooo full of himself that he can't help himself.
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    Fauci has been basically muted. You don't need to fire him.
     
    Stooge

    Stooge

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    Oct 29, 2017
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    Why would he even sit down with Woodward? The guy is an idiot, but its an election year and Woodward cut his teeth destroying political aspirations.
     
    VariantX

    VariantX

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    16,891
    Columbia, SC
    And yet I still got idiots coming into my job everyday not wearing masks and when other customers challenge them on it they start hollering that its a hoax. Dude is literally responsible for everyone who refuses to wear a mask and someone gets sick from them spreading it.

    wisdom0wl said:
    he's gonna need a secret grave because it would get desecrated daily
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    He better be cremated and have his ashes sent off world then.
     
    Wyman Manderly

    Wyman Manderly

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    ItIsOkBro said:
    Ok why is there an actual audio recording of Trump saying he is playing it down all the way in March that we're just now hearing in September. Maybe if we had this in, I dunno, March, we could have gotten more people to take this seriously.
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    Just imagine the shit we will hear when Trump is out of office. Just. Imagine.
     
    schuelma

    schuelma

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    You've fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well known is this; never talk to a Woodward, when your election is on the line!
     
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