Trump ignored repeated warnings about the severity of the threat and failed to prepare, making the coronavirus crisis worse than it needed to be.
Trump was warned about the coronavirus by U.S. intelligence agencies more than a dozen times throughout January and February.
Washington Post: “U.S. intelligence agencies issued warnings about the novel coronavirus in more than a dozen classified briefings prepared for President Trump in January and February, months during which he continued to play down the threat, according to current and former U.S. officials.”
Yet, Trump ignored warnings and instead spent those months downplaying the threat and failing to prepare for the coronavirus crisis.
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January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
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February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
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February 10: “Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”
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February 26: “When you have 15, 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.”
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February 26: “This is a flu. This is like a flu.”
