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Published 14:11 IST, September 11th 2020

'Trump didn't intentionally mislead US about Coronavirus,' White House releases statement

The White House explained on September 9 that the President did not intentionally mislead the people of America about the pandemic COVID-19 outbreak.

Reported by: Gargi Rohatgi
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After it was finally revealed that US President Donald Trump played down the severity of the Coronavirus pandemic, the White House explained on September 9 that the President did not intentionally mislead the people of America about the COVID outbreak.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany issued a statement in this matter. These remarks came after recordings obtained by CNN and also on a book titled "Rage" written by Journalist Bob Woodward revealed on Wednesday that Trump acknowledged in February that he was aware how dangerous and contagious the COVID-19 pandemic was but decided to play it down as he did not want to create a panic. 

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'Donald Trump knows Coronavirus was deadly'

During an interview with Woodward which happened months ago, The Republican President said that he 'always wanted to play it down' and acknowledged COVID-19 was more serious than the flu, despite downplaying the severity of the virus publically. Woodward conducted around 18 interviews with Donald Trump for the book which is due to be released on September 15. 

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Coronavirus situation in the US 

The pandemic COVID-19 which started in December 2019 rapidly spread across the world and the US tops the list of countries worst hit by the pandemic. The total number of Coronavirus cases recorded so far is 6,588,163, out of which 196,328 people have died. Until now 3,879,960 have recovered from COVID-19. 

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Updated 14:11 IST, September 11th 2020