President Trump said Thursday if Bob Woodward was so worried about the fallout from his decision to downplay the coronavirus then the veteran journalist should have sounded the alarm earlier on.
Mr. Trump said Mr. Woodward is the one who should be coming under fire for withholding information from the American public if he thought it could save lives.
“Bob Woodward had my quotes for many months. If he thought they were so bad or dangerous, why didn’t he immediately report them in an effort to save lives? ” Mr. Trump said on Twitter. “Didn’t he have an obligation to do so? No, because he knew they were good and proper answers. Calm, no panic!”
Mr. Trump has been put on the defensive after excerpts released this week from Mr. Woodward’s new book — titled “Rage” — showed he purposely minimized the threat the coronavirus posed to the country earlier this year.
“I wanted to always play it down,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Woodward on March 19, according to clips of their discussion posted by CNN. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.