FILADELFIA – President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied that he minimized the threat of the coronavirus and told the TELEVISION executive that he “played with it” despite his statement in an earlier interview this year that he “always sought to minimize it. “
Trump made statements in 90 minutes from the city corridor organized through ABC News on Pennsylvania’s must-see battlefield.
“Well, I didn’t downplay it. In fact, in many ways, I played it in terms of action,” Trump said in reaction to a consultation on an interview with journalist Bob Woodward in which he said he knew the most fatal and contagious coronavirus. that flu, however, continued to compare the two.
The city council, which aired two weeks before Trump participated in his first debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden, presented a lengthy verbal exchange about the president’s reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, who defended his earlier statement that the virus would disappear even without a vaccine, bringing up what he called “herd mentality”. , an obvious reference to “group immunity”.
Group immunity is the theory that the virus is eliminated after a higher percentage of the population becomes infected, which restricts its spreading capacity.
“And you will grow, expand a herd — like a herd mentality. It’s going to be — it’s going to be an evolved herd — and it’s going to happen. All this will happen. “
ABC described the occasion as aimed at un engaged voters, some of whom asked Trump about the coronavirus pandemic, the economy, climate change, and problems.
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos anchored the city corridor anchor.
Trump has been continually forced to preserve the claims he made at election rallies and at the White House in recent months. When asked why he had not developed a physical care plan that he had long promised Americans with pre-existing conditions, Trump said he had an “already” plan but refused to provide main points on when it would be launched. When he claimed that “many people” think the mask is “not good” to control the spread of the virus, Stephanopoulos asked for an example of one who said that.
“The waiters,” Trump replied, claiming that the waiters touched the mask before touching the dishes of the restaurant’s customers.
The president also continually rejected the concept that he had minimized the severity of the virus, despite recordings of Woodward’s interviews in which he told the journalist that the concept of minimizing it would help panic.
“I sought to minimize it. I like to minimize it, because I don’t need to create panic,” Trump told Woodward on March 19 on excerpts from audio interviews received through CNN.
Trump has compared the coronavirus to the flu, saying that “nothing stops, life and the economy continue” even during the deadliest flu seasons.
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Trump recorded the mayoralty of the National Constitution Center, whose lobby offers panoramic views of Independence Hall a few blocks away, was the site of former President Barack Obama’s high-profile speech on race in the 2008 presidential campaign.
Back from Philadelphia, Trump tweeted a picture of himself on Air Force One with a giant Philadelphia cheese steak sandwich on his desk. “It’s great to be back in Philadelphia,” he wrote.
The first of the three debates, scheduled for September 29, will position itself as an increasingly tight race on some battlefields, adding Florida and North Carolina.
Trump took Pennsylvania to less than 1 percentage point in 2016. Philadelphia suburbs are among the most competitive in the country, Trump is also looking to increase participation in the most conservative parts of the state.
“With the suburban voter, we take care of them; it’s security, it’s a security issue, it’s a matter of law and order,” Trump said as he left the White House, echoing what has a central precept of his response. -electoral candidacy. ” We have a very strong and tough police campaign. “
Polls lately show Democratic nominee Joe Biden with a unique advantage in Keystone state.
The transmission of the city corridor on a day when the president achieved a historic victory in foreign policy: a couple of agreements formalizing diplomatic relations between Israel and two Persian Gulf countries, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Foreign ministers from Arab states joined Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the South Garden of the White House the previous Tuesday for a signing ceremony.
More: Israel’s agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at the White House ceremony
Contributor: Jeanine Santucci