CHINA/CORONAVIRUS: [Reporter: “You knew it [coronavirus] was airborne. You knew — on February 7th, you told Bob Woodward how it transferred from person to person in the air, how deadly it was.”]
“Well, let me ask you this: If Bob Woodward thought that was bad — because this is stuff that everyone knew. There’s a report that I have here someplace where China said it was airborne earlier than the statements I made. People knew it was airborne. This was nothing — this was no big — when I say it was airborne, everybody knew it was airborne. This was no big thing.
But read the reports. China came out with a statement that it was an airborne disease. I heard it was an airborne disease. I assumed it early on. The fact is, there has to be a calmness. You don’t want me jumping up and down, screaming, ‘There’s going to be great death. There is going to…’ and really causing some very, very serious problems for the country.
If Bob Woodward thought what I said was bad, then he should’ve immediately, right after I said it, gone out to the authorities so they can prepare and let them know.”
-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing,” whitehouse.gov, Sep. 10, 2020