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[Page S5529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Trump Administration
Madam President, now on President Trump, yesterday it was reported
that, in taped interviews with Bob Woodward, President Trump
acknowledged that he knew the danger posed by COVID-19 way back in
February but he deliberately--deliberately--downplayed the threat to
the American people. We now know that the President wasn't ill-
informed. He wasn't being overly optimistic. He was lying to the
American people. He was deliberately downplaying the virus to the
American people at a time when early and forceful action could have
saved so many lives.
Look, when the house is on fire--a five-alarm fire--you have an
obligation to let people know. If you don't, they are going to burn,
and they are going to die.
When we look at the rest of the world and see why they are doing
better than we are in fighting this disease, the reason is simple: They
had some leadership. We have had none from the White House--none. We
have had lying. We have had ignoring the problem. We have had
misleading the American people but no leadership at a time when we
desperately need it.
Other leaders around the world were clear about science. They faced
up to the problem and worked hard to solve it. They instituted policies
to test, trace, and isolate. We had a President who simply lied about
the dangers of the disease and suggested that Americans inject bleach.
Other leaders took responsibility and ownership. We had a President who
said: ``It is what it is.'' In the annals of history, this will be one
of the five greatest examples of lack of leadership in American
history.
President Trump, the history books are not going to regard you
kindly. They are not going to regard you kindly.
The President is coming up with great excuses now for his perfidious
lies. This time, he said he didn't want to tell the truth about COVID
because it might cause panic. Really? Is this the same President who is
busy panicking America right now, telling women in the suburbs that
their safety is at risk when the suburbs are not at risk at all? Is
this the same President who invented a caravan of migrants in an
attempt to panic Americans before the last election? This President
always uses panic as a tool when he thinks it serves his interest, so
the idea that he did it because he didn't want to panic Americans does
not ring true. It seems like an ex post facto excuse for the
President's perfidious lies. President Trump doesn't mind panicking
people when it serves his interest. What is worse is that he will not
tell the truth when it hurts his interest, even if lives are at stake.
The President's comments in this interview were despicable. It should
serve as a warning to all Americans about who this man is and his
total, complete abject failure to lead.
(Mr. SCOTT of Florida assumed the Chair.)
