Trump on COVID-19: told Woodward he knew it was 'deadly stuff' and wanted to 'play it down' while saying publicly it would 'disappear' (Jan.-Sept. 2020)

Case

Bob Woodward's 18 recorded interviews with Trump, released in Sept. 2020, show Trump saying on Feb. 7 the virus was more deadly than the flu and on March 19, 'I wanted to always play it down,' while on Feb. 27 he said publicly it would 'disappear.' Trump said he did not want to create a panic; his press secretary said he never downplayed the virus. The U.S. had more than 190,000 deaths when the tapes came out.

What the recordings show
Journalist Bob Woodward conducted 18 on-the-record interviews with Trump from December 2019 through July 2020, released ahead of his book Rage (Sept. 15, 2020).
Trump received an intelligence briefing on Jan. 28, 2020 warning the virus posed a serious threat.
On a Feb. 7 call Trump told Woodward the virus was 'deadly stuff,' more deadly than even a strenuous flu.
On Feb. 27 he said publicly 'It's going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear.'
On a March 19 call he told Woodward, 'I wanted to always play it down,' and said he did so to avoid causing panic.
Asked whether lives could have been saved, he sidestepped and said that without his actions 'we'd have had millions die.'
When the recordings came out in September 2020 the U.S. had more than 190,000 COVID-19 deaths and over 6.3 million cases.

Perspectives

Defender — Donald Trump, Kayleigh McEnany and Peter Navarro
Trump said he didn't want to create a panic or drive the country into a frenzy. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said he never downplayed the virus, and adviser Peter Navarro said he didn't believe a word of what Woodward says.

Note
Trump said he did not want to create a panic, and the White House said he never downplayed the virus.

Sources
[1] Al Jazeera — Trump knew coronavirus was 'deadly', downplayed it: Woodward book (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/trump-knew-coronavirus-deadly-publicly-downplayed-book-200909174106560.html) · 2020-09-09
[2] TODAY — Trump told Bob Woodward he knew in February that COVID-19 was 'deadly stuff' but wanted to 'play it down' (https://www.today.com/today/amp/tdna191329) · 2020-09-09

Connections

Same actor — Denials in the face of documented facts: how Trump, his family, his businesses, the White House and the Pentagon have answered fraud and conflict-of-interest allegations (2017-2026)
Another case where Trump's public statements differed from what he said privately.