Our intelligence community issued a warning about coronavirus in November 2019 and Trump was briefed in early January. Now, Dr. Fauci says the Trump administration knew the full extent of the threat in mid-January.
Dr. Fauci said the Trump administration knew we were in real trouble towards the middle to end of January.
FAUCI: “As soon as it became clear that there was community spread… then it became clear that we were in real trouble… That was probably towards the middle to end of January.”
Still, Trump spent mid-to-late January downplaying the threat and wasting precious time that could’ve been used to fight the virus. Trump in January:
January 22 — TRUMP: “We have it totally under control…It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
January 30 — TRUMP: “We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment.”
January 30 — TRUMP: “We are in great shape.”
January 30 — TRUMP: The coronavirus will have “a very good ending for us … that I can assure you.”
