Politico: “New revelations from Trump’s interviews with Woodward early in the crisis are raising a new set of questions that are threatening to swamp his administration and campaign just over 50 days from the November election. While Trump keeps trying to turn attention toward his favorite issues — culture wars, law and order or new promises to his base like potential conservative judicial appointees — Woodward’s book and the timeline it presents has forced the Trump administration into precisely the position it’s wanted to avoid: litigating the early stages of its response to a pandemic that has now killed more than 190,000 Americans.”

“Some White House aides privately acknowledge it was a wasted month. Democrats and other critics say the delay in giving out timely and clear information — especially after those fateful days in early February — caused untold thousands more deaths than necessary and deeper economic wreckage than the U.S. might have endured if it had responded earlier. ‘This is the same man, Donald Trump, who for days, weeks, if not months thereafter calls it a hoax, dismissed the seriousness of it to the point he suggested people should not wear masks. He knew it was airborne, that people would breathe it,’ Democratic vice presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, said Thursday. That early response from Trump, top White House aides and health officials across the administration now shows a different picture than the president was presenting to the public. Senior administration officials argue they were all scrambling to figure out the nature of the virus, with the severity of it slowly coming into focus later in February.”