PRESIDENT TRUMP BETRAYED THE PUBLIC RE: COVID-19

 

                ….Anthony Fauci was one of many interviewed by Bob Woodward

 

As usual, Woodard writes the truth. This time, with recordings of the president

 

I have always been a big fan of the author, Bob Woodward.  One of the reasons is that he always has three or four back-ups for any big piece of news that he puts into print.  In his new Book “Rage”, Woodward not only has multiple back-ups, he met with President Trump 18 times where Trump tried to get Woodward on to Trump’s side.  In all of these meetings, as usual, Bob recorded each meeting.  CNN was not only given a pre-released copy of the book, they also received some copies of the recordings with the president, and many of them are being released as I am writing this article.  So much of what I include below will already be made available on both radio and TV.

“Rage,” by Bob Woodward, will be released Sept. 15. (Simon & Schuster & Kindle)

So, what I will be including in this article are some key items and the dates of what the president admits to, which was in many cases, well before the American public was made aware of the information.  In addition, also as usual, there are many things the president says on the tapes, where what he was saying publicly is the opposite of what he confesses to Woodward.

So, hear we go with some of the key items of the info that is included in Woodward’s new book:

Trump’s admissions are in stark contrast to his frequent public comments, at the time insisting that the virus was “going to disappear” and “all work out fine.”

The book, using Trump’s own words, depicts a President who has betrayed the public trust and the most basic responsibilities of his office. In “Rage,” Trump says the job of a president is “to keep our country safe.” But in early February, Trump told Woodward he knew how deadly the virus was, and in March, admitted he kept that knowledge hidden from the public.

“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told Woodward on March 19, even as he had declared a national emergency over the virus just days earlier. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”

If instead of playing down what he knew, Trump had actually acted decisively in early February with a strict shutdown and a consistent message to wear masks, social distance and wash hands, experts believe that thousands of American lives could have been saved.

The startling revelations in “Rage,” which CNN obtained were made during 18 wide-ranging interviews Trump gave Woodward from December 5, 2019 to July 21, 2020. The interviews were recorded by Woodward with Trump’s permission, and CNN has obtained copies of some of the audio tapes.

“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.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the administration’s top infectious disease expert, is quoted telling others Trump’s leadership was “rudderless” and that his “attention span is like a minus number.”

“His sole purpose is to get reelected,” Fauci told an associate, according to Woodward. ‘The virus has nothing to do with me’ said Trump.

Woodward reveals new details on the early warnings Trump received….and often ignored.

In a January 28 top secret intelligence briefing, national security adviser Robert O’Brien gave Trump a “jarring” warning about the virus, telling the President it would be the “biggest national security threat” of his presidency. Trump’s head “popped up,” Woodward writes.

O’Brien’s deputy, Matt Pottinger, concurred, telling Trump it could be as bad as the influenza pandemic of 1918, which killed 675,000 Americans.

He had been told 50% of those infected showed no symptoms.

At that time, there were fewer than a dozen reported coronavirus cases in the US.

Three days later, Trump announced restrictions on travel from China, a move suggested by his national security team…despite Trump’s later claims that he alone backed the travel limitations.

Nevertheless, Trump continued to publicly downplay the danger of the virus.

“Presidents are the executive branch. There was a duty to warn. To listen, to plan, and to take care,” Woodward writes. But in the days following the January 28 briefing, Trump used high-profile appearances to minimize the threat and, Woodward writes, “to reassure the public they faced little risk.”

During a pre-Super Bowl interview on Fox News February 2, Trump said, “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.” Two days later during his State of the Union Address, Trump made only a passing reference to the virus, promising, “my administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.”

Asked by Woodward in May if he remembered O’Brien’s January 28 warning that the virus would be the biggest national security threat of his presidency, Trump equivocated. “No, I don’t.” Trump said.

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.”

When Woodward spoke to Trump on February 7, he was surprised, however, by the President’s focus on the virus. At the same time that Trump and his public health officials were saying the virus was “low risk,” Trump divulged to Woodward that the night before he’d spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the virus. Woodward quotes Trump as saying, “We’ve got a little bit of an interesting setback with the virus going in China.”

“It goes through the air,” Trump said. “That’s always tougher than 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. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”

But Trump spent most of the next month saying that the virus was “very much under control” and that cases in the US would “disappear.” Trump said on his trip to India on February 25 that it was “a problem that’s going to go away,” and the next day he predicted the number of US cases “within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”

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.

Woodward, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, conducted hundreds of hours of confidential background interviews with firsthand witnesses for “Rage,” and he obtained “notes, emails, diaries, calendars and confidential documents,” including more than two dozen letters Trump exchanged with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. As stated, Woodward is known to record his interviews with the permission of his subjects and sources.

He writes that when he attributes exact quotations, thoughts or conclusions, that information comes either from the person, a colleague with direct knowledge or documents.

Trump’s conscious downplaying of the coronavirus is one of numerous revelations in “Rage.” The book is filled with anecdotes about top cabinet officials blindsided by tweets, frustrated with Trump’s inability to focus and scared about his next policy directive because he refused to accept facts or listen to experts:

Mattis is quoted as saying Trump is “dangerous,” “unfit,” has “no moral compass” and took foreign policy actions that showed adversaries “how to destroy America.” After Mattis left the administration, he and Coats discussed whether they needed to take “collective action” to speak out publicly against Trump. Mattis says he ultimately resigned after Trump announced he was withdrawing US troops from Syria, “when I was basically directed to do something that I thought went beyond stupid to felony stupid.”

Woodward writes that Coats and his top staff members “examined the intelligence as carefully as possible,” and that Coats still questions the relationship between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Coats saw how extraordinary it was for the president’s top intelligence official to harbor such deep suspicions about the president’s relationship with Putin. But he could not shake them.”

I am stopping here as it would not be fair to continue, and I would recommend if you want more info, buy the book.  Much of the book will be brought to light on many TV stations over these months before the election.  The hard cover is expected to cost ~$30.00 and the Kindle version will be $14.99, both available on September 15, 2020.

Copyright G. Ater 2020