COVID-19 Response: Trump Defends His Earlier Comments

By Madelaine D. Sep 10 2020, 07:31 AM EDT

President Donald Trump has defended comments he made earlier this year about the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an interview on Fox News' "Hannity" on Wednesday, Trump defended the comments he made about the coronavirus pandemic in interviews with journalist Bob Woodward, reiterating that he only wanted to "show calmness."

As per Fox News, Trump told host Sean Hannity that he is the country's leader and cannot just "jump up and down" and scare people.

"I don't want to scare people. I want people not to panic, and that's exactly what I did," the President said.

Some parts of the interviews form the basis of Woodward's forthcoming book, "Rage," which were published by The Washington Post earlier Wednesday.

In early February, Trump told Woodward that the COVID-19 was "deadly stuff" while publicly comparing it to seasonal flu. After more than a month, Trump admitted to Woodward that he "wanted to always play it (the virus) down."

COVID-19 Response: Trump Defends Earlier Comments — President Trump Delivers Remarks On Judicial Appointments WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 09: U.S. President Donald Trump announces his list of potential Supreme Court nominees in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on September 9, 2020 in Washington, DC. Trump also fielded questions about the coronavirus and Bob Woodward's new book about him. Doug Mills-Pool

Trump noted that at the time, he still likes playing it down because he did not want to create a panic.

The President has also slammed Woodward for being an author of "hit jobs."

"He does hit jobs with everybody, he even did it on Obama... constant hit jobs. On [George W.] Bush, I guess, they did three books, they were all terrible. So I figured, you know, 'Let's give it a little shot, I'll speak to him'," Trump said.

"It wasn't a big deal, I speak to him and let's see. I don't know if the book is good or bad, I have no idea. I probably, almost definitely won't read it because I don't have time to read it. But I gave it a little bit of a shot, sounds like it's not going to be good," he added.

The Republican President also defended his early response to the coronavirus pandemic. He cited his late January decision to limit China's fights to the U.S.

This move was criticized by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, saying it's in keeping with what he called Trump's "record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering."

"If you look at the representatives of Joe Biden, you see what they were saying. They were saying 'no problem,' 'this won't be a problem. Biden didn't think it was going to be a problem until months later. He was way late," Trump told Hannity.

Trump also recalled the touring of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif in San Francisco's Chinatown last February in a bid to ease fears about the coronavirus.

According to Trump, nobody wants him to ban on travel from China. The President noted that he also limits on travel from most of Europe shortly after that, which was more controversial.

Trump said it was good that he ordered this travel restriction as "he saw what was going on in Italy, Spain, and France."

"And if we didn't do those bans, Americans would have had numbers that were much, much (worse)," Trump noted.

The President also criticized Democratic governors for keeping the lockdown on their states, citing the swing states of Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

"It's a shame -- They don't know what they're doing, frankly," Trump added.