White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday said that US President Donald Trump did not intentionally mislead citizens about the gravity of the coronavirus epidemic.
The statements come after recordings, accessed by CNN and based on a new book titled “Rage” by journalist Bob Woodward, showed earlier on Wednesday that Trump had admitted in February that he knew how deadly the novel coronavirus was but played it down as he did not want to stoke panic.
US President Donald Trump admitted to a journalist early during the Covid-19 pandemic that he underplayed the threat of the health crisis even though there was evidence available to the country, according to the new book.
"I wanted to always play it down," Trump told author Bob Woodward on March 19, days after he announced a national emergency. "I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic," Trump added.
Trump on Wednesday defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of over 1,90,000 people in the United States.
"The fact is I'm a cheerleader for this country. I love our country and I don't want people to be frightened," Trump said at the White House. "We've done well from any standard."
A week after giving the interview, President Trump, Trump said at a White House briefing that the number of coronavirus infections in the US would plummet to zero "within a couple of days."
Woodward in an interview with the Associated Press stood his ground after he came under fire from critics who asked why he had kept Trump's comments to himself even as the pandemic wreaked havoc.
"He tells me this, and I'm thinking, 'Wow, that's interesting, but is it true?' Trump says things that don’t check out, right?" the news agency quoted Woodward as saying in a telephonic interview.
However, a few fellow Republicans stood by Trump's Covid-19 response on Wednesday.
"His actions of shutting the economy down were the right actions," Senator Lindsey Graham told Reuters. "And I think the tone during that time sort of spoke for itself."
(With inputs from agencies)
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