Agreed Trump 18 Interviews Woodward Despite Calling ‘dem Operating’

President Donald Trump had previously called journalist Bob Woodward a “Dem operative” when dismissing sections in a previous book prior to being interviewed by him 18 times for his latest release.

Trump spoke with Woodward, of Watergate fame, between December and July for the book Rage, due to come out next week.

Quotes from these discussions have begun to emerge, with a section in which Woodward claims Trump said he understood COVID-19’s threat earlier in the year but downplayed its seriousness publicly.

In audio said to be from March released to CNN, Trump can purportedly be heard saying, he wanted to “always play it down” due to not wanting to “create a panic.”

The president has since again Wednesday he did not “want people to be frightened.”

Trump is also said to have spoken of how deadly COVID-19 was in an interview on February 7. Days later at a campaign rally in New Hampshire he said he thought things would “work out fine” and suggested it would “go away” by April.

Update 09/10/2020: This page was updated to include a graphic.