The Washington Post reported that US President Donald Trump has received at least a dozen US intelligence briefings that warned of the growing threat of the coronavirus in January and February. The warnings were included in the president’s daily briefing, which outlines each day the most pressing information and security threats. The news outlet also said the briefings traced the virus’s spread around the globe, made clear that China was suppressing information about the contagion’s transmissibility and lethal toll, and raised the prospect of dire political and economic consequences. The Post didn’t provide source names of current and former US officials and said the briefings were just one part of a broader collection of worrisome signals.
The report has raised further questions regarding the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus epidemic, which has killed more than 58,000 Americans. The president repeatedly downplayed the threat of the virus to the US throughout January and February, at the same time he was reportedly receiving the warnings from US intelligence. Trump said on 26 February, when the number of confirmed infections was still relatively low, he said, “And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done. The virus is going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
President persisted in playing down the threat. Trump said on 10th March, “Just stay calm. It will go away.” One day later, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. Trump declared a national emergency as the stock market plummeted and banned travel from Europe in an effort to contain the outbreak. The White House has repeatedly denied that Trump was slow to respond to the threat of the pandemic. The Trump administration has attempted to shift the blame on to state governors for the rapid spread of the virus across the United States.