President Trump may have told Bob Woodward he downplayed the pandemic to the public, but the president is now saying he “up-played” the pandemic with his actions.
Trump told a voter during an ABC News town hall on Tuesday night that he did not downplay the coronavirus pandemic in terms of the actions he took to stop the virus from claiming more lives.
“I didn’t downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it in terms of action. My actions were very strong. Because what I did with China, I put a ban on. With Europe, I put a ban on. And we would have lost thousands of more people had I not put the ban on,” Trump said.
“So, that was called action, not with a mouth, but, in actual fact, we did a very, very good job when we put that ban on. Whether you call it talent or luck, it was very important. So we saved a lot of lives when we did that,” he added.
Host George Stephanopoulos noted that the ban did not block every traveler from China or Europe. Trump responded by explaining that he did not want to prohibit citizens from returning to the United States.
Trump has been criticized for telling Woodward that he liked to “play it down” in terms of what information he released to the public about the pandemic to prevent widespread panic.
In a special @ABC2020, Pres. Trump disputes uncommitted voter who asked why he downplayed a virus that has disproportionately affected communities of color: “I up-played it, in terms of action. My action was very strong.”
Watch tonight at 9|8c on @ABC: https://t.co/aGDnXBiKrq pic.twitter.com/Mklmyvwogd
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 16, 2020