Trump knew how dangerous the COVID-19 pandemic was in January 2020 and did nothing to stop the spread throughout America

In a series of interviews with Bob Woodward, US President Donald Trump revealed that he had a level of detail about the threat of the SARS-CoV-2 virus earlier than previously known.

CNN published part of these taped interviews on 9 September 2020.

7 FEBRUARY 2020 – no COVID-19 deaths in USA

TRUMP: “We've got a little bit of an interesting setback with the virus going in China.”......

WOODWARD: “And so, what was President Xi saying yesterday?”

TRUMP: “Oh, we were talking mostly about the uh, the virus. And I think he’s going to have it in good shape, but you know, it’s a very tricky situation. It’s –“

WOODWARD: “Indeed it is.”

TRUMP: “It goes through air, Bob. That’s always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch, you don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed.

And so, that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than your – you know, your, even your strenuous flus. You know, people don’t realize, we lose 25,000, 30,000 people a year here. Who would ever think that, right?”

WOODWARD: “I know. It’s much forgotten.”

TRUMP: “Pretty amazing. And then I say, well, is that the same thing-”

WOODWARD: “What are you able to do for –“

TRUMP: “This is more deadly. This is five per- you know, this is five percent versus one percent and less than one percent. You know? So, this is deadly stuff.”

19 March 2020 – 52 COVID-19 deaths in USA

TRUMP: “Now it’s turning out it’s not just old people, Bob. Just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It’s not just old- older.”

WOODWARD: “Yeah, exactly.”

TRUMP: “Young people too, plenty of young people.”

WOODWARD: “So, give me-”

TRUMP: “So what’s going on-

WOODWARD: “-a moment of talking to somebody, going through this with Fauci or somebody who kind of, it caused a pivot in your mind. Because it’s clear, just from what’s on the public record that you went through a pivot on this to, ‘oh my god, the gravity is almost inexplicable and unexplainable.’”

TRUMP: “Well I think, Bob, really, to be honest with you-”

WOODWARD: “Sure, I want you to be.”

TRUMP: “I wanted to- I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”

May 2020 – by 1 May there were 1,795 COVID-19 deaths in USA

WOODWARD: “So now, I understand-”

TRUMP: “-it was too early.”

WOODWARD: “Your new national security adviser, O’Brien, said to you January 28, “Mr. President, this is going- this virus is going to be the biggest national security threat to your presidency.” Do you remember that?”

TRUMP: “No, no. No, I don’t. No, I don’t. I’m sure if he said it – you know, I’m sure he said it. Nice guy.”

By 9 September 2020 the number who had died from COVID-19 infection in the USA exceeded 170,000 people, according to a Reuters report and “The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had forecast last month that the U.S. death toll will reach 200,000 to 211,000 by Sept. 26” while “The University of Washington’s health institute last week forecasted that the U.S. deaths from the coronavirus will reach 410,000 by the end of the year.”

Throughout 2020 Donald Trump continues to hold large public "Keep America Great" rallies without social distancing or face masks being required. 

On 20 March 2020 Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was quoted as saying that "The country which has actually been responsible for a large amount of these (coronavirus cases) [in Australia] has actually been the United States". However in March he was still refusing to ban travel from the U.S. to Australia.

By 20 March Australia had 846 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 41.7% of these occurring in New South Wales. 

In April 2020 Morrison chose to focus on economic recovery when he discussed the global pandemic with Donald Trump - rather than the impact in Australia of infections arriving from the U.S.

Since then community infection has taken hold in Australia and at least 788 people have died to date.

As late as July 2020 airline passengers carrying the COVID-19 infection were arriving in New South Wales from the United States. With the pandemic clearly out of control out of control in America passenger flights from the U.S. to Sydney still continue to arrive.