'It will disappear': the disinformation Trump spread about the coronavirus – timeline

 @TeeMcSee

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Tue 14 Apr 2020 08.00 BST

The president was personally warned about the growing crisis beginning in mid-January – but continued to give false assurances to the American public

8 January

CDC issues alert

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issues an alert advising that it “is closely monitoring a reported cluster of pneumonia of unknown etiology (PUE) with possible epidemiologic links to a large wholesale fish and live animal market in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China”.

18 January

Trump receives briefing

Health secretary Alex Azar calls Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and briefs him on the coronavirus threat, but “Trump spent much of the conversation wanting to talk about vaping”, the AP reported.

21 January

First confirmed US case

A man in his 30s who had traveled to China is hospitalized in Everett, Washington, near Seattle. He tests positive for Covid–19.

22 January

Trump: ‘We have it totally under control’

While attending the Davos conference in Switzerland, Trump makes his first public comment about coronavirus. “We have it totally under control,” he tells the US cable channel CNBC. “It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

27 January

White House aide raises alarm

Joe Grogan, the head of the White House Domestic Policy Council, tells acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and others in a meeting that the fight against coronavirus would dominate public life for months and “the administration needed to take the virus seriously or it could cost the president his re-election”, according to a Washington Post report.

29 January

Aide warns of ‘full-blown Covid-19 pandemic’

Economic adviser Peter Navarro warns the National Security Council in a memo that coronavirus could kill half a million Americans and deliver a $5.7tn hit to the economy, Axios reports.

30 January

Azar warns Trump again

As the World Health Organization declares a global health emergency, Azar, the health secretary, again warns Trump about the looming threat. Taking Azar’s call aboard Air Force One en route to a campaign rally, Trump dismisses him as “alarmist”, the New York Times reported.

Trump: ‘Only 5 people in US’