Donald Trump has been beaten down by the media for his Woodward comments about his knowledge that the virus WAS and IS dangerous….
Trump being Trump and stuck?
Is resorting to trying to change things by lying and denying HIS comments that have been caught on tape….
Another attempt to bend reality…..
President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied that he had downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, claiming he “up-played” the danger of the disease through his actions – despite privately admitting months earlier that “I wanted to always play it down.”
Trump, speaking at an ABC News town hall event with voters in Philadelphia, also said he didn’t regret anything about his response to the pandemic. He repeated his refrain that the virus will “go away” even without an effective vaccine, saying that over time Americans will develop “a herd mentality.”
The president’s assertion that “in many ways I up-played it in terms of action” came less than a week after the release of audio from an interview with veteran journalist Bob Woodward, in which Trump said of the coronavirus: “I wanted to always play it down … I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
That clip was recorded in mid-March, more than a month after Trump reportedly told Woodward that he understood the virus was “more deadly than even your strenuous flu.”
Trump’s advisors, Woodward reported in his new book “Rage,” had warned him in late January that the coronavirus “will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency.”
In the town hall event Tuesday evening, the president claimed that his moves early on in the Covid-19 crisis saved lives and demonstrated “action, not with the mouth but in actual fact.”
Trump was asked by a student, “If you believe it’s the president’s responsibility to protect America, why would you downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low income families and minority communities?”
The president responded, “Yeah, well I didn’t downplay it. I actually, in many ways I up-played it in terms of action.”
The student appeared to reference the president’s recorded comments with Woodward as she began a follow-up question: “Did you not admit to it yourself, saying that you…”
But Trump cut her off….