President Trump has admitted to intentionally downplaying the severity of COVID-19 in a series of new tapes released by Watergate reporter Bob Woodward. Separately, Brian Murphy, a whistleblower who was formally the head of the intelligence division at the Department of Homeland Security, accused the department of serving the president’s political interests.
Bob Woodward’s Tapes
Bob Woodward, the journalist who played a large part in uncovering the Watergate scandal back in 1972, has released a series of interviews with the President, revealing how the President had known how COVID-19 was airborne, deadly, dangerous, and highly contagious, even before the first U.S. death, as reported by CNN (the recordings can be heard there) in his new book “Rage.” This is his second book about the President, the first of which, “Fear,” was published back in 2018.
Some of the tapes are directly related to the President’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Jan. 28, in a top-secret intelligence meeting about the coronavirus, national security advisor Robert O’Brien told the President that the virus would be “the biggest national security threat” of his presidency. But just before the Super Bowl on Feb. 2, Trump said, in a Fox News interview, that they “pretty much shut it down coming from China,” when it is now clear he didn’t.
In an interview with Woodward on Feb. 7, Trump said that he knew the virus “goes through air,” was “more deadly than the strenuous flu,” and that it was markedly “more deadly than the flu.” He even called it “deadly stuff.”
And on March 19, he said that “I always wanted to play it down,” because he didn’t want to create a “panic.”
In addition, many high-level ranking officials have been quoted harshly criticizing the administration’s handling of the virus. Dr. Anthony Fauci said that Trump’s leadership was “rudderless” and his “attention span is like a minus number.” Dr. Fauci claims that Trump’s sole purpose was to get reelected.
Unfortunately, this also means that Trump willingly sent over 180,000 people to their deaths. Should Trump have acted quickly and decisively, and chose to respond to the virus seriously, a huge crisis could’ve been averted.
However, I doubt that these new allegations will have a significant impact on November’s election. Most voters have already made up their minds. This really highlights how polarized America has become: even major scandals such as this can be thrown off by the sitting president, a sign showing how low standards have become.
DHS Whistleblowing
Separately, Brian Murphy, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) intelligence division, accused leaders in the department for downplaying threats from white supremacists and Russian interference in American elections to help President Trump’s political interests.
For example, Murphy was told to stop producing assessments on Russian election interference (U.S. intelligence has stated Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help elect Trump) directly from the White House’s national security adviser.
He was also told to keep quiet on a Russian disinformation campaign which alleged Biden’s deteriorating mental health in order to make the president look good. In addition, intelligence assessments were asked to downplay the threat of white supremacy but focus on violent left-wing groups and Antifa.
Murphy was demoted in August after his office compiled reports on the protests in Portland, Oregon. According to Murphy’s lawyer, he followed proper and lawful whistleblowing rules in “reporting serious allegations of misconduct against DHS leadership, particularly involving political distortion of intelligence analysis and retaliation.”
The House Intelligence Committee, led by Democrats, is asking Murphy to testify privately on Sep. 21, which could be drumming up to a public hearing before election day.
It will be interesting to see how all these allegations play out. As for now, there are just 54 days until the general election. Stay tuned for more.