🚨U.S. intelligence reports from January and February warned about a likely pandemic washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
Reports & warnings painted an early picture of a virus that showed characteristics of a globe pandemic that could require governments to take swift actions to contain it. But despite that constant flow of reporting, Trump continued to play down the threat the virus posed.
The surge in warnings coincided with a move by Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) to sell dozens of stocks worth between $628,033 and $1.72 million. As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Burr was privy to virtually all of the highly classified reporting on the coronavirus.
One official noted that it was discussed at a meeting in the third week of January, around the time that cable traffic showed that U.S. diplomats in Wuhan were being brought home on chartered planes — a sign that the public health risk was significant.
🚨Azar couldn’t get through to Trump to speak with him about the virus until Jan. 18. When he reached Trump by phone, the president interjected to ask about vaping and when flavored vaping products would be back on the market, the senior administration officials said.🚨
On Jan. 27, aides huddled with Mulvaney, trying to get senior officials to pay more attention to the virus. Joe Grogan, head of the Domestic Policy Council, argued that the administration needed to take the virus seriously or it could cost the president his reelection.
I think it’s going to work out fine,” Trump said on 2/19. “I think when we get into April, in the warmer weather, that has a very negative effect on that & that type of a virus. The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
By February, Grogan & others worried there weren’t enough tests. Other officials, including the deputy national security adviser, called for a more forceful response. But Trump continued to assure Americans the coronavirus would never run rampant as it had in other countries.
Kadlec said that to get ahead of the virus, Americans would need to take actions that could disrupt their lives.Trump’s insistence on the contrary seemed to rest in his relationship with China’s President Xi Jingping, whom Trump believed was providing him reliable information.
Some of Trump’s advisers told him that Beijing was not providing accurate numbers of people who were infected or who had died, according to administration officials. Rather than press China to be more forthcoming, Trump publicly praised its response.
On 2/25, Nancy Messonnier, a CDC official, sounded significant alarm, when she told reporters the coronavirus was likely to spread within the U.S. &that disruptions to daily life could be “severe.” Trump called Azar & complained that Messonnier was scaring the stock markets.
NO WORDS.
