Author Bob Woodward said President Donald Trump failed with his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic early on during a preview of his interview that will air tonight on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
Host Scott Pelley asked, “Did the president ever disclose to you why he wasn’t telling the public what the stakes were with the coronavirus?”
Woodward said, “I think he did not understand the American public. He said, ‘Well, I don’t want to create a panic.’ We know from history when the public is told the truth, they organize. We have a problem. We’re going to step up. And Trump thought, ‘Oh, well, they’ll panic.’ When there’s a crisis, when the president, particularly, they know something, it’s time to tell the public in some form. He failed.”
Pelley said, “You write in the book that the president’s handling of the virus reflects his instincts, habits, and style. What are those?”
Woodward said, “Denial, making up his own facts.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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