President Trump said to Watergate sleuth Bob Woodward that the U.S. response to the coronavirus could not have been better.
In the final call between Woodward and Trump, which happened too late to be mentioned in the journalist’s new book, Rage, Woodward warned the president that his book would be “tough” on him and would generate controversy. In response, Trump spoke highly about the stock market and his administration’s response to the pandemic.
“You know the market’s coming back very strong, you do know that?” Trump asked after Woodward discussed the severity of the coronavirus, according to audio of the taped conversation obtained by CNN. “Yes, of course. And you know,” Woodward responded.
“Do you cover that in the book?” Trump inquired. “Yeah, oh sure,” Woodward replied.
The call, which was Woodward’s 19th interview with the president, lasted for approximately 10 minutes on Aug. 14. During that conversation, Woodward speculated that the result of the general election between Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will hinge on the coronavirus situation.
“Nothing more could have been done. Nothing more could have been done. I acted early. I acted early. So, we’ll see,” Trump said.
“This will be the history that we start the first draft of. And it, it will continue and…” Woodward said before getting interrupted with a question from Trump. “So you think the virus totally supersedes the economy?” Trump said.
“Oh, sure. But they’re related, as you know,” Woodward responded.
There are over 6.5 million total reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States and 194,000 related deaths, according to the latest reading from the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
