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  • 2020-09-09 (xsd:date)
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  • Did Trump Say in February 2020 That COVID-19 Is Deadlier Than the Flu? (en)
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  • U.S. President Donald Trump's approach to the COVID-19 pandemic was under heavy scrutiny on Sept. 9, 2020, as excerpts from reporter Bob Woodward's book Rage started to circulate on social media. One of the most arresting passages in that book was highlighted by CNN reporter Daniel Dale, who wrote that Trump continued to downplay the seriousness of the pandemic in public by likening it to the flu even though Trump had acknowledged to Woodward on Feb. 7, 2020, that COVID-19 was deadlier than even the most strenuous strains of influenza: These are both genuine quotes. The first quote comes from Woodward's new book Rage. Woodward, one of the reporters who broke the Watergate scandal story during U.S. President Richard Nixon's administration, conducted 18 on-the-record interviews with Trump between December 2019 and July 2020. In addition to Woodward's reporting, there are also audio recordings of these conversations. During the Feb. 7 interview, Trump acknowledged that the virus was airborne and that COVID-19 was deadlier than even the most strenuous strains of the flu. Despite acknowledging that COVID-19 was deadlier than the flu in early February 2020, Trump continued to downplay the seriousness of the pandemic in public by repeatedly likening COVID-19 to the flu. As Dale noted, Trump said that COVID-19 was like the flu during a Feb. 27 press conference. The official White House transcript shows that Trump was explaining how COVID-19 was different than Ebola when he made this comment. Here's the full quote: This, of course, was not the only time Trump made this faulty comparison. In March, during an interview with Fox News, Trump lamented that he had to shut down businesses, saying, We've never closed down the country for the flu. Trump repeated this stance on Twitter: White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked about Woodward's book during a Sept. 9 press conference, which can be viewed in full here. Below is an excerpt of her comments: As of this writing, nearly 190,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States. (en)
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