US President Donald Trump was warned about the potential for a pandemic but he repeatedly played down the seriousness of the virus and focused instead on controlling the message, protecting gains in the economy and batting away warnings from senior officials, a lengthy investigative report in a leading American newspaper has said.
The report in The New York Times revealed that there were warnings from the intelligence community, national security aides and government health officials about an impending pandemic and its consequences but Trump played down the crisis.
“ An examination reveals the president was warned about the potential for a pandemic but that internal divisions, lack of planning and his faith in his own instincts led to a halting response,” the NYT said.
The US is the worst-hit country in the world with over 530,000 COVID-19 cases and 20,608 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
“ Top White House advisers as well as experts deep in the Cabinet departments and intelligence agencies all sounded alarms and urged aggressive action to counter the threat from the coronavirus, but President Trump remained slow to respond,” it said.
Trump’s views were “ coloured” by long-running disputes inside the administration over how to deal with China and his own suspicion of the motivations of officials inside what he viewed as the “ Deep State.”
Further, recommendations from public health officials often competed with economic and political considerations in internal debates, slowing the path toward belated decisions.
The NYT report said that the National Security Council officials received the warnings in early January about the potential dangers from a new virus in Wuhan, China.