President Trump jousted with reporters during a press conference following bombshell revelations from former Watergate journalist Bob Woodward.
On Thursday, the president held a White House press conference to provide updates on the COVID-19 pandemic and attack Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden over his campaign response to the coronavirus. Afterward, Trump battled with ABC White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, who asked about Trump’s statement to Woodward, saying he wanted to “always” play down the coronavirus pandemic to prevent panic.
“Why did you lie to the American people? And why should we trust what you have to say now?” Karl asked.
“Such a terrible question and the phraseology. I didn’t lie. What I said is we have to be calm. We can’t be panicked,” Trump responded.
The president speculated that if Woodward thought his statement was “bad,” he would have reported it at the time rather than wait for it to be included in his book.
“He didn’t report it because he didn’t think it was bad. Nobody thought it was bad,” Trump said.
“And your question, the way you phrase that is such a disgrace. It’s a disgrace to ABC television network. It’s a disgrace to your employer,” Trump continued, but Karl fired back.
“You told him that you knew that it was deadlier than the flu. And then, you went out and told the American public that this was just like the flu. I mean, you told Woodward one thing, and you told everybody else something else,” Karl said.
Trump’s comments to the Watergate journalist are part of Woodward’s book Rage, which is set for release on Tuesday. At the time Trump described the severity of the coronavirus with Woodward, he made categorically different public statements on the matter, including that COVID-19 was similar to the seasonal flu, according to Woodward.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, “The president has never lied to the American public on COVID. The president was expressing calm, and his actions reflect.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also rejected the idea Trump misleadingly minimized the threat the coronavirus posed to the United States when asked about the matter on Fox News.
There are over 6.38 million reported cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and 191,000 deaths, according to the latest reading from the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
