According to audio recordings of excerpts from an interview with a journalist

Trump admits that he played down the danger of "Corona" to spare Americans from panic

Trump was always reassuring Americans at the beginning of 2020 that the virus was not dangerous and that it would "go away" on its own.

EPA

US President Donald Trump admitted that he tried to reduce the seriousness of the emerging corona virus, according to audio recordings of excerpts from an interview with the veteran American journalist Bob Woodward, published the day before yesterday, in order to spare Americans "panic".

Trump said in an interview with Woodward on March 19: “I always wanted to reduce the extent of its danger (the virus),” according to what CNN reported, which had seen the book, “Anger,” to be published on September 15th.

He added in his recorded interview with Woodward: "I still want to underestimate how dangerous it is, because I do not want to create a state of panic."

In another taped interview on February 7, Trump told Woodward that the virus was "transmitted through the air", although he had always made fun of people wearing masks in the weeks and months that followed.

It took until July before the US president was convinced to wear a muzzle during his public appearances.

The statements published eight weeks before the presidential elections exacerbate the pressure on Trump, and polls show that about two-thirds of Americans are not satisfied with the way he managed the health crisis, and he is accused of underestimating the severity of the crisis in order to enhance his chances of winning a second term.

In a statement to reporters at the White House, Trump denounced the book, describing it as "a new political assassination."

He said that he played down the seriousness of "Covid-19" to avoid "hysteria."

And the American president continued: "I do not want the people to panic, I will not lead this country or the world to hysteria," stressing that "we have to show leadership, and the last thing you want to do is create panic."

He said, "Most likely, and almost certainly, I will not read it (Woodward's books), because I do not have time to read it."

Observers expect that the book will provide new arguments that will be used by Democrats who believe that Trump has failed to prepare Americans to face the seriousness of the outbreak of the virus and to lead them towards the appropriate response.

In previous interviews with Woodward, Trump made it clear that he was aware that the virus was "lethal" and was by far more dangerous than the regular flu.

But Trump had always reassured the Americans in early 2020 that the virus was not dangerous and that it would "go away" on its own.

However, Trump was having the support of the great expert in infectious diseases, Anthony Fauci, who was constantly telling the public that the virus required a strict response even when the president started saying something different.

Fauci told Fox News: "I don't remember anything that was a major distortion in the things that I talked to him about."

He added that Trump was careful to prevent the country from "deteriorating".

Trump insists on his success in managing the response to the epidemic, which is expected to have the death toll from it in the United States exceeding the 200,000 mark.

And he indicates the correctness of his proactive decisions to ban travelers from China, where the virus first appeared, and from hot spots in Europe.

Yet Trump gave conflicting messages at least at a time when the country needed guidance.

He changed his positions repeatedly, switching from declaring himself a president equivalent to presidents in times of war to opposing the opinion of scholars who advise the government by calling for an early restart of the economic wheel.

In the same context, the former director of the American Centers, Dr. Thomas Frieden, said that what was revealed may harm the state's efforts to immunize people when a Corona vaccine becomes available.

He asked, "What will people think about when they talk about a vaccine?"

And he considered that "we must be able to (provide) confidence, otherwise we will not be able to control the epidemic."

"This was a failed federal response," Frieden said.

The United States is lagging internationally in its response.

He added that there is a clear and proven means of communication in the event of a health emergency.

He explained that "the first should be right, be credible, be sympathetic, and give people practical and useful things to do."

He continued, "If you think about these five things, none of them have been done."

"What that means is that we didn't start wearing masks when we should have," Frieden said.

"We did not take it seriously, and we did not close early enough in some places and other places. We closed it very early, for a very long time."

This comes at a time when a US government official claimed that he was asked by officials in the political corps to withdraw from reporting intelligence information about Russian interference in the elections, because the information may harm the image of President Donald Trump.

The allegations were part of a complaint about leaked information by Brian Murphy, who until recently worked in the Intelligence Unit at the Department of Homeland Security, and issued by the Democratic-led Intelligence Committee in the House of Representatives the day before yesterday.

The complaint also alleges that Murphy was asked to gather intelligence on terrorists coming across the southern border, to match the White House's statements.

Likewise, he was told to collect reports on left-wing anarchists to match Trump's statements.

The allegations indicate that Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf ordered Murphy "to stop any publication of intelligence information on Russian disinformation efforts" without his consent.

"Mr. Wolf told Mr. Murphy that the intelligence information should (be stopped) because it" "makes the president's image bad," the complaint said.

Murphy said he objected to that.

Murphy also stated that he was asked to distance himself from gathering intelligence on Russia and shift his focus to China and Iran.

• 200,000 Coronavirus deaths, the threshold that America is expected to surpass.

• Statements published eight weeks before the presidential elections are exacerbating pressure on Trump.

• The former director of the American Centers said that what was disclosed could harm the state’s efforts to immunize people when a vaccine is available.

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