President Donald Trump arrives to speak during a news conference about the coronavirus in the James Brady Briefing Room at the White House, Saturday, March 14, 2020, in Washington.
Alex Brandon / AP Photo
President Trump received intelligence briefings on coronavirus twice in January
In all, more than 66,000 Americans have died during the pandemic.
By Ayesha Rascoe and Colin Dwyer/NPR
Alex Brandon / AP Photo
President Donald Trump arrives to speak during a news conference about the coronavirus in the James Brady Briefing Room at the White House, Saturday, March 14, 2020, in Washington.
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(Washington) — President Trump twice received intelligence briefings on the coronavirus in January, according to a White House official. The official tells NPR the briefings occurred on Jan. 23 and Jan. 28.
“The president was told that the coronavirus was potentially going to ‘spread globally,’ ” the official said of the first briefing, which came two days after the first case of the virus was reported in the United States. “But the ‘good news’ was that it was not deadly for most people,” the official said the president was told.
Five days after that initial briefing, the president was briefed again, according to the official. This time, he was told the virus “was spreading outside of China, but that deaths from the disease were happening only in China,” the official said. “He was also told that China was withholding data.”
The question of what Trump knew about the coronavirus, when he was aware of it and the tenor of those conversations have come under heavy scrutiny, as the administration faces criticism that it was slow to respond to early warnings about the virus. In the time since the president’s January briefings, the U.S. has reported more than 1.1 million cases of the coronavirus — more than any other nation. In all, more than 66,000 Americans have died.
Joy Malone / Reuters
Countries under coronavirus lockdowns should only ease those restrictions if they can control new infections — and trace contacts, the World Health Organization says. Here, Hashim, a health care worker, recently greeted his daughter through a glass door as they maintain social distance due to the COVID-19 outbreak in New Rochelle, N.Y.
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