Never Trump conservatives turn president's attempt to 'play down' coronavirus into calls to impeach him again
In a preview of Bob Woodward's forthcoming book Rage published Wednesday in The Washington Post, President Trump went on the record with some pretty disturbing revelations: He knew in February that COVID-19 was "deadly stuff," but told Woodward in mid-March that "I wanted to always play it down" anyway.
Democrats quickly condemned the comments, and even conservatives, including the Post's Jennifer Rubin, suggested it warranted a second round of impeachment proceedings.
The conservative, anti-Trump Lincoln Project tweeted a reminder that a president can be impeached twice, and then twisted Trump's words into a scathing ad.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Meanwhile Republican senators uniformly insisted they hadn't read the report in question, even when reporters read it to them.
And Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), one of Trump's few Senate GOP foes, only gave a tepid condemnation of Trump's deliberate underreaction to the coronavirus, saying "that's not ideal to me."
Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro, who was quoted by Woodward, declared that the reporter "put words in my mouth I never said." And inside the White House, aides and advisers were reportedly arguing over just who let the president talk to Woodward in the first place. Kathryn Krawczyk
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why is China clearing out its generals?Podcast Plus, can the Conservatives win back the centre? And what’s gone wrong with Britain’s hearing aids?
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A Viking festival, an inky fingerprint, and more
-
6 homes with incredible balconiesFeature Featuring a graceful terrace above the trees in Utah and a posh wraparound in New York City
-
EU and India clinch trade pact amid US tariff warSpeed Read The agreement will slash tariffs on most goods over the next decade
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Maduro pleads not guilty in first US court hearingSpeed Read Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to cocaine trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy
