There were serious concerns from President Donald Trump, mainly regarding dangers related to the coronavirus outbreak and for a few more things. As he downplayed the real threat in public and drew the same outrage towards the White House and now the Bob Woodward, veteran journalist keeps quiet until the book publication is imminent.
Woodward decided not to share the revelation early in interviews, and he defended his decision. He was not ready to share anything about the book during the interview with The Associated Press and The Washington Post after the details from the new book, namely âRage,â were started making public news Wednesday. Apart from this, the audio clips collected from almost 18 interviews of Trump by Woodward, Trump said, âCoronavirus is a âdeadly stuffâ and highly contagious.â When admitting, he always wanted to create a complete panic situation and tried to play it down.
Woodward was asked why he never shares the discrepancies between his public statements about reducing the danger and Trump’s private fears regarding corona virus. Woodward replied that he always wanted some more time to determine if Trumpâs view and corona virus statements were accurate or not. âHe is telling me this, and I should be thinking. Wow, even though that is interesting, is it true.â Woodward quoted to AP when referring to Trumpâs habits related o misrepresenting and stretching the truth. After that, he said he wants to determine, âWhat he knows and when he came to know about it?â he borrowed a phrase from his reporting, and it was for The Post on Watergate break-in.
Woodward quoted to The Post, âThe biggest issue I had, a problem with Trump, is that I am not sure whether it is true.â In February, Trump called him out of the blue to unburden himself regarding the potential severity of COVID-19, Woodward stated to AP. Even though the health officials such as Dr. Anthony Fauci had the opinion that âthere is low risk for Americans since the risk of corona virus reaching the U.S. is pretty low,â Trump always showed concerns that seemed exaggerated.
Woodward says, till the end of May, the concerns made by Trump seemed like they are based on reliable information. But, by that point, the virus was already widespread. Woodward said to AP, âIf I had done some story in February regarding what he knew at that time, that is not telling us something that we all didnât know.â Woodward told both The Post and AP that he always believed it is more crucial for him to offer a broader picture of the President Trump administration ahead of the upcoming election compared to filing daily news stories.
He told The Post, âI knew that I could tell the second draft of history, and I also knew I could release it before the election.â “The demarcation line for me, “Woodward told AP about the election. He also added that, âHad I focused that my book was released out on the day of Christmas, by the end of the year, surely that would have been nothing but unthinkable.â âWoodward told, in contrary to some speculation, there was no serious argument needed him to keep it secret, the content of the interviews until the book âRageâ publishes Tuesday.â
When Woodward asked why he was not ready to share the discussion between him and Trump happened in February along with The Post reporters, He revealed AP that he developed, âfew pretty important sourcesâ on his own. The question was, âCould have thought about bringing others in? Could they have helped to do things which I couldnât do?â he asked. âI was on the trail, and later also I was still on the trail even when the virus was exploded.â
Many critics have the opinion that if Woodward shared the information at that time, he could have saved many lives. The reason was, people might have begun taking some precautions soon enough to avoid becoming infected by the coronavirus. Now, the virus has taken 190000 lives in the U.S. They also accused him of putting book sales on people. Apart from that, similar criticisms were made for John Bolton, former national security adviser, who released âThe Room Where It Happened.” The book was released in June, and it had information about the allegations that later lead to Trump’s impeachment.
On Thursday, Trump tweeted that the fact Woodward decided on revelations for a longer period indicates that he approved of his response to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump also wrote, âIf he had the opinion that they were dangerous and bad, why he didnât report the same and why he didnât make an effort to save lives? Why didnât he have such obligations to do so? No, he always knew that they were proper and good answers. Calm down, no panic.â The majority of the critics said, Woodward would have come forward and revealed everything sooner.
Scoot Nover, the Adweek reporter, asked, âThere is no journalist imperative for publishing the information on time, more importantly, during the pandemic?â Esquireâs Charles Pierce wrote, âNow the death toll reached 200000 because neither Bob Woodward nor Trump wanted to take a risk anything to keep the country informed about the pandemic.â Infections disease epidemiologist, Beth Linas tweeted, âI am upset about withholding the coronavirus information. Even in May, when Woodward corroborated Trumpâs comments, he would have spoken out,â coronavirus is not a scoop, but it is life and death.â
Andrew Perez and David Sirota, Left-leaning journalists, wrote, Woodward is Americaâs most famous journalist, and he had a rare chance to make an alarm regarding the pandemic that the country is facing. Instead, he chose to stay quiet so he can preserve access to the White House. He has plans to sell more books to the nation under completed quarantine and lockdown.â Trevor Noah, Daily Show host, Joked, âimagine in case if Paul Revere had that attitude, are the British coming? Please find out through preordering my book on Amazon.â