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.
He should resign. Period. If not, House should impeach yet again. I'm serious
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) September 9, 2020
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.
Trump knew it was worse than the flu.
Trump knew coronavirus was deadly. #TrumpKnew and he did nothing. pic.twitter.com/rWKzj5Ti1i
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 9, 2020
Meanwhile Republican senators uniformly insisted they hadn't read the report in question, even when reporters read it to them.
Several GOP senators react to Woodward book saying "haven't read it"@tedcruz: "haven't seen the book"@SenRickScott: “I’ve not read it"@SenJohnKennedy: “I haven’t read it.@SenCapito & @senrobportman said haven't read it, despite being read parts
— Ali Zaslav (@alizaslav) September 9, 2020
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.
A number of top advisers talked. Kushner is on the record extensively. The president spoke 18 times.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 9, 2020
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