Bob Woodward Was Stunned By What Trump Told Young Son Barron About Coronavirus

Watergate journalist Bob Woodward on Monday recalled a comment from former President Donald Trump that led to him being “as stunned as I’ve ever been as a reporter.”

On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN Tonight,” Woodward shared audio of Trump telling him what he told his youngest son, Barron Trump, during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. The audio was part of recorded interviews for Woodward’s 2020 book “Rage,” now released separately as “The Trump Tapes .”

Talking to Woodward on March 19, 2020, Trump said Barron, then 13, asked what was going on and he answered: “I said, it came out of China, Barron. Pure and simple. It came out of China. And it should’ve been stopped. And to be honest with you, Barron, they should’ve let it be known it was a problem two months earlier ... the world wouldn’t have a problem. We could have stopped it easily.”

“CNN Tonight” host Jake Tapper acknowledged that blame did lie on the Chinese government for covering up the initial spread of COVID-19. But he reminded viewers of how Trump himself had been warned of its potential dangers   and chose to do nothing.

At the time of that particular interview with Trump, Woodward said he had no idea of the warning the then-president had received from his own national security advisers about the virus.

When Woodward learned of the warning, he said he listened to the tape again and concluded: “My God, Trump is conning not just me but his son and he is laying out, ‘Oh this could have been fixed, the Chinese could have done something about it.’” ”

“Donald Trump could have done something about it by being honest and warning the public that he as president has constitutional and moral responsibility to do,” Woodward continued.

Watch the interview here: