Trump reacts to Woodward tapes by admitting he may have underplayed coronavirus danger to ‘avoid panic’

President admitted to journalist he knew virus was transmitted in air and more deadly than a flu

Donald Trump, in a remarkable admission, says he publicly downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus – but only in an attempt “to reduce panic.”

“If you said in order to reduce panic, maybe that’s so,” the president said when asked about comments he made to journalist Bob Woodward for a coming book. “It’s just another political hit job.”

Mr Trump told reporters he told Woodward one thing and the American people another because being honest in public would mean “you’re going to have bigger problems.”

“I don’t want people to be frightened,” he said. “We want to show confidence, we want to show strength.”

Mr Trump shot back at criticism that mounted all day, saying he felt he and his team “had to show calm.”

“The last thing we can show is panic or excitement or fear,” he said at the end of an event on his expanding list of conservatives who might be Supreme Court nominees if he wins re-election.

As his administration in early spring struggled to explain to people how the virus spreads, Mr Trump was clear in one conversation with Woodward.

"This is deadly stuff," Mr Trump told the Washington Post journalist on 7 February.

“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” the president added during the phone 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.”

Mr Trump’s aides are correct that he did say from the White House podium earlier this year that up to 200,000 Americans could die from the respiratory virus.

But the president also has said over and over it will one day just “disappear” and “go away” – one time saying the warming spring and summer temperatures would eradicate it – while pushing states to reopen their economy and schools.

Mr Biden fired back that experts have told his campaign that over 30,000 lives would have been spared had the president been more honest early in the spring. At least 190,455 people have died on US soil from the coronavirus, according to The Johns Hopkins University. 

Republican lawmakers did not rush to defend the GOP president.

But Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said, “these gotcha books don’t really interest me. There will be another one out tomorrow.”

His state was hit hard at the onset of the virus outbreak. He told CNN the Trump Administration gave Louisiana officials everything they requested. 

“We worked very closely on trying to help small businesses,” he said, adding of experts like the ones cited by My Biden: “I don’t put a lot of credence into that.”

On Mr Trump telling Woodward more clearly the virus travelled through the air, the GOP senator tried to dodge the question. When pressed, he said “to be is to act” and he does not judge Washington officials “by what they say.”

‘Go away’

During a visit to the Capitol around the time of his early February call with Woodward, the president urged Americans to remain “calm” and predicted without offering supporting evidence the virus would “go away.”

Other Democrats slammed the words Mr Trump can be heard clearly saying on recordings made by Woodward with the president’s permission.

“The president’s own words spell out the devastating truth: Trump was fully aware of the catastrophic nature of the coronavirus but hid the facts and refused to take the threat seriously, leaving our entire country exposed and unprepared," Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said in a statement. “More than 6 million Americans have been infected, 190,000 have died and tens of millions are jobless and at risk of hunger and homelessness. So much of this pain could have been avoided, but President Trump refused to tell the truth or to act to protect the American people. The horrifying toll of Trump’s deadly disinformation and negligence in the lives of grieving families and to our economy is a historic national tragedy.

“Even now, the president still refuses to listen to science and take the action necessary to crush the virus and protect the lives and livelihoods of the American people,” she added. "We must have a science-based strategic plan to defeat the coronavirus, as advanced in the [House-passed] ‘Heroes Act’ that Senate Republicans continue to block.”

Appearing at a campaign event in Michigan, Mr Biden said: "His failure to act not only cost lives -- it sent our economy into a tailspin that cost millions more Americans their livelihoods. This is a recession created by Donald Trump's negligence -- and unfitness for this job. How many schools aren't open right now? How many kids are starting a new school year the same way they ended the last one -- at home? How many parents feel abandoned and overwhelmed?

"How many frontline workers are exhausted and pushed to their limits? How many families are missing a loved one at their dinner table -- because of his failures? It's beyond despicable," he added. "It's a dereliction and a disgrace."