Thread by @jaketapper

I asked @JoeBiden for his view of the news from @realBobWoodward that POTUS in early Feb. knew how deadly COVID19 was despite how much he downplayed the threat.

Biden: “It's disgusting. We learned this on the day that 100 - it turned 190,000 Americans dead and he knew this?...

2/ “...I understand he had just gotten off the phone when he did the first interview with Woodward, he'd just gotten off the phone with Xi Jinping, where he's praising Xi Jinping about transparency, and this is nothing to worry about and this is gonna go away like a miracle....

3/“... What in God’s name would a man like - I mean I don't get it. I truly don't get it. It's like what he - the way he talks about our veterans I mean, it's just astounding to me.”

4/ I noted that POTUS told Woodward March 19 "I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don't want to create a panic." And that this afternoon he said similar and added that “leadership is about confidence.”

5/ Biden: “Yeah and that's why we have no confidence in his leadership. I mean if - Look. You saw what Columbia Medical School pointed out in March. Had he acted one week earlier, there'd be over 31,000 more people alive....

6/ “... He acted two weeks earlier, there would've been 50 some thousand people alive. This caused people to die. And what did he do the whole time? He acknowledged this, you breathe it it's in the air and he won't put on a mask....

7/“... he's talking about its ridiculous to put on a mask, what do you need social distancing for? Why have any of these rules?

“It was all about making sure the stock market didn't come down, that his wealthy friends didn't lose any money,...

8/“... and that he could say anything that in fact anything that happened had nothing to do with him. He waved a white flag. He walked away, he didn't do a damn thing. Think about it. Think about what he did not do, it's almost criminal.”