Trump concealed real dangers of coronavirus while playing it down publicly, Bob Woodward claims in new book

President Donald Trump admitted that he knew the coronavirus pandemic was far more serious than he let on to the public and concealed the virus’ true dangers, according to a new book. 

"This is deadly stuff," Mr Trump told Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward 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.”

The president spoke to Mr Woodward in a series of 18 recorded interview that are detailed in the journalist’s upcoming book Rage, which was obtained by CNN. 

These phone calls, which the president agreed could be recorded, show a far different picture from what he was telling the public. 

At the same time Mr Trump was admitting to Woodward that the virus could be “five times more deadly” than the flu, he was publicly saying Covid-19 was no worse than the flu. It would be several weeks before the president and his administration would state the virus was unlike the flu and could be transmitted through the air. 

The first recorded US coronavirus death happened on 29 February. 

Another exchange between the president and Mr Woodward happened on 19 March, just a few days after he declared a national emergency, where he admitted to playing down the virus to the public. 

"I wanted to always play it down," Mr Trump said. "I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic."

Health experts have said that if the United States had implemented mask wearing, strict social distancing guidelines, and shut down at the end of February, it could have saved thousands of lives. 

The US has reported more than 6.3 million coronavirus cases since and 189,972 people have died from the novel virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. 

“Trump never did seem willing to fully mobilise the federal government and continually seemed to push problems off on the states,” Mr Woodward wrote. “There was no real management theory of the case or how to organise a massive enterprise to deal with one of the most complex emergencies the United States had ever faced.”

"The president has never lied to the American public on covid," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a press briefing on Wednesday. 

Woodward also spoke to other officials to assess the president’s performance in office, all of which is detailed in the book. 

Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and member of the White House’s coronavirus taskforce, was quoted telling others that MrTrump’s leadership was "rudderless" and that his "attention span is like a minus number."

"His sole purpose is to get re-elected," Dr Fauci told an associate, according to Woodward.

Mr Woodward’s book covers 18 interviews with the president made from 5 December 2019 through 21 July 2020. 

Besides speaking about the coronavirus pandemic, the president also spoke to the journalist about race relations across America, diplomacy with North Korea, and other issues that have arisen during the presidency. 

Rage is a follow-up to Mr Woodward’s book Fear, which detailed a chaotic White House environment in which aides would hide papers from the president to prevent dangerous impulses. 

At the time of the release of Fear, Mr Trump complained that the journalist never reached out to him for a comment, which is potentially why he gave so much access to him for his latest book. 

But that still didn’t stop Mr Trump from complaining about the upcoming book in a tweet on 14 August.  “The Bob Woodward book will be a FAKE, as always, just as many of the others have been,” he wrote. 

Mr Woodward’s book concludes with a stark statement about the president, writing: "Trump is the wrong man for the job."

The veteran journalist made his name on the Washington Post in the early 1970s, when his stories with Carl Bernstein about the Watergate scandal eventually led to Richard Nixon resigning in disgrace. The 77-year-old has written books on most of the subsequent presidents since then.