According to a report by the New York Times, as President Trump was telling the nation on February 24th that the coronavirus was “very much under control” and just two days before his infamous statement that the nation would have “close to zero” cases in a couple days, Trump’s administration was briefing Hoover Institution board members about the increasing threat of the virus.

Tomas J. Philipson, a senior economic adviser to the president, was far less confident than Trump, saying they couldn’t estimate the impact of coronavirus on the nation, leading the board members to understand the Administration didn’t have a handle on the crisis.

Larry Kudlow, a senior economic advisor to the president, went on television to tell the public the virus “was close to airtight.”  Hours later, he told the Hoover Institute the coronavirus “contained in the U.S., to date, but now we just don’t know.”

(It should be noted that Dr. Scott Atlas, the neuroradiologist who made frequent appearance on Fox “News” and now Trump’s preferred advisor on the coronavirus, was on staff of the conservative Hoover Institution.)

The report of the three-day board meeting, from an account of a hedge fund consultant, William Callanan, in attendance, shined light on the efforts the Trump Administration made to warn favored investors while painting a far rosier picture to Americans.

As people around the world started to worry about the impact of virus on their lives and livelihoods, Trump stood before them to tell people the coronavirus was nothing worse than the seasonal flu.

But people who saw accounts from the meeting, including the Callanan summary, used the uncertainty to influence their investments, with many of them shorting markets to profit from the upcoming massive drop in stocks.

Those insiders then informed clients, who passed the word along to others, all of whom used the information to game stocks before the Administration acknowledged the dangers of the virus.  From the first warning on February 24th, insiders were able to prepare for a market which plunged more than 9,000 points on the DJIA in 28 days.