Woodward facing critics who say he should have released with info he had.

[Fla Dem]

Bob Woodward defends keeping revelations about Trump and coronavirus quiet until book release

William Cummings, USA TODAY 30 mins ago

The revelation President Donald Trump expressed serious concerns about the danger posed by the coronavirus outbreak, even as he downplayed the threat in public, drew outrage toward the White House and veteran journalist Bob Woodward for keeping the scoop quiet until the publication of his new book was imminent.

When asked why he didn't share the discrepancies between Trump's private fears about the virus and his public statements minimizing the danger, Woodward told AP he needed time to determine if Trump's statements about COVID-19 were accurate.

"He tells me this, and I’m thinking, 'Wow, that’s interesting, but is it true?' Trump says things that don’t check out, right?" Woodward told AP, referring to Trump's habit of stretching or misrepresenting the truth. And he said he had to determine, "What did he know and when did he know it?" borrowing a phrase from his reporting for the Post on the Watergate break-in.

"The biggest problem I had, which is always a problem with Trump, is I didn’t know if it was true," Woodward told the Post.

<<<<Snip
Woodward said it was not until May that he confirmed Trump's statements were based on reliable information, and that at that point the virus was already widespread.

"If I had done the story at that time about what he knew in February, that’s not telling us anything we didn’t know," he told AP.

Woodward told the Post and AP that he believed it was more important for him to provide a broader picture of the Trump administration ahead of the election than to file daily news stories.

Snip>>>>>>>>>>
Many critics said Woodward might have saved lives if he had shared the information sooner because people might have started to take precautions sooner to avoid becoming infected by the virus, which has killed more than 190,000 in the U.S. They accused Woodward of putting book sales over people. Similar criticism was recently leveled at former national security adviser John Bolton whose book "The Room Where It Happened," which published in June, included information related to the allegations that led to Trump's impeachment.

More>>>>>>>>>>>

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bob-woodward-defends-keeping-revelations-about-trump-and-coronavirus-quiet-until-book-release/ar-BB18TVOT?ocid=chromentp

[Miguelito Loveless]

1. Again, Woodward is going to make

about $1 per dead COVID victim. If he had come out earlier, he would have really killed his revenue potential.

Priorities people.

[malaise]

8. How much are the Con and his spawn making? n/t

[Miguelito Loveless]

12. Lots. Rivers of cash. Oceans of it.

That doesn't make Woodward's blood money okay by comparison.

[Act_of_Reparation]

16. Irrelevant.

[still_one]

2. I believe I heard he also mentioned that in the book. With trump's history of lying and

exaggeration, it seems like a reasonable concern from Woodward

[Merlot]

4. I'm no medical expert, but I knew back in March this thing was deadly and airborne.

Wuhan. Italy. New York. Seemed pretty obvious.

Woodward's excuses don't hold up.

[still_one]

6. Guess what, most people who were paying attention knew it. There were enough medical experts

telling us just how dangerous it was.

[Act_of_Reparation]

17. That's not really the point.

I can't predict would might have happened had Woodward released the information earlier, and neither can anyone else. The question is whether Woodward, as a journalist in possession of said information, had a moral/ethical responsibility to share it.

[still_one]

24. There are less than 60 days before the election, and I prefer to focus on what was revealed in this

book and on the tapes how trump compromised the health of the American public and National Security rather than Woodward

At this stage the criticisms against Woodward are just a distraction away from the focus which should be on trump in my opinion

While I understand the criticism against Woodward for not presenting this information back in February, I also believe that this book being released now, rather than just a part of it in February, offers the best chance to remove the greatest threat to our republic since the Civil War

Woodward has given us the complete story from November 2019 to June 2020

If trump wins a second term, a lot more lives will be lost, and not just from the virus

[Act_of_Reparation]

28. I understand the sentiment.

But here's the thing:

This is a discussion worth having. Maybe it doesn't need to be plastered all over the news (and from what I can see, it isn't), but no one here is going to vote for Trump, no matter what. Why can't we talk about it?

[still_one]

30. I agree.

[RobinA]

31. To Me This Is

a non-issue. If Trump knew it, plenty of other people knew it so it wasn't something nobody knew. Why is it Woodward's job to release information that anybody in a decision-making capacity already had? I'm sure Fauci isn't going, Damn, why didn't Bob TELL me the virus was dangerous.

The issue is what Trump did and did not do. I don't even particularly care when he knew anything. The point is, he should have known and he should have acted. We already know he's a liar and a confidence man, nothing new there. He has never said he didn't know it was bad. He knew and he did nothing. It's Donald Trump, is this really a surprise?

[maxrandb]

19. Really? Did you watch the same briefs with Dr Scarf-Face that I did?

Or my mom did?

[frazzled]

11. True, large majorities of us knew by early March

by reading reliable newspapers and broadcast news outlets, listening to our governors (if we lived in a blue state) and state and local health authorities, as well as Doctor Fauci, and by seeing the world results. We (meaning my family) pretty much locked ourselves up in our house at that time.

But I wonder if Woodward had said something sooner (the soonest would have been mid-March, when Trump said he was downplaying it) if it would have made any difference. The main issue was preparedness—ramping up the production of PPE and other materials and equipment, as well as reliable testing, and getting it to hospitals and public health centers before the virus became widespread. Trump had already closed the relevant pandemic preparedness office, and he didn't seem very interested in helping the states in any way. My governor (Pritzger) and others (such as Cuomo) had to start scrambling to obtain PPE from China and other sources on their own. That needed to have begun in early February ... and take your guess as to whether Trump would have done that (he didn't). By mid to late March it was too late. All we would have gotten from the revelation that he knew (when of course most everybody knew) is anger, and the issue would have pretty much faded from the public spotlight within days or weeks.

I'm not apologizing for Woodward: he should have done it. But I don't think it would have changed a thing. We needed the federal government to act and act early. They weren't going to do that, no matter what.

[Merlot]

13. I agree that had this been made public earlier it wouldn't have changed anything.

I'm just saying woodward's excuse is weak.

[brush]

18. CNN is covering this right now. Seems Woodward expected to talk to...

trump on Feb. 7 about being acquitted in the impeachment hearings and was surprised trump wanted to talk about covid, which at that time was seen by most, including Woodward, as a problem in China. He listened and recorded trump talking about how he had just spoken with Xi Jinping who told him that it was very serious and spread through the air but it was under control.

Woodward didn't know, and trump didn't share, that there was also a national security meeting in late January where trump was also alerted that covid was spreading in China and it was dangerous and had potential to arrive here. It wasn't until later on in May when Woodward found out about the January meeting that he realized what he had in the Feb. 7 recording. It was then that he sped up work on the book so it could be published as soon as possible before the election.

It sounds plausible as most people in Feb. had heard vaguely about a virus in China. I myself had flown to Phoenix on the 4th and came back on the 7th, not concerned yet about flying or mask wearing or social distancing.

[5X]

5. he was gambling with lives.

[still_one]

7. Actually, trump was gambling with lives, and still is if you listen to their pushback arguments

There were enough medical experts and international news that told most people how dangerous this virus was

[5X]

27. If you want the complete timeline and how it all happened, read this guy...

Link to tweet

?s=20

[still_one]

29. Thanks. I think the most important thing right now is removing trump from the WH, and

I believe that is where the focus needs to be, not on Woodward not warning us in February

[GusBob]

3. I think there is an important point to be made here

Folks everywhere are criticizing Woodward, not just on DU

People should be able to do so on DU without being called Trump enablers

[Montelimar]

23. People who criticize Woodward

are explicitly giving Trump a pass.

[GusBob]

32. You have it completely backwards

In covering up Trumps mendacious prevarications, Bob Woodward gave Trump a pass

[Montelimar]

34. You have it completely ass backwards

Bob Woodward is not the president of the united states.

[GusBob]

36. Thats brilliant! ever read the book "All The President's Men" ?

Woodward became a tool, an enabler



Poor Bob, too late the hero

[Montelimar]

37. I don't believe in any hero bullshit

and don't even particularly care that it is Bob Woodward or Cooter Brown or Uncle Bob, but the blame lies with chumpo, his supporters, and his enablers.

Woodward is NOT the CDC, WHO, or any public health infrastructure entity.

When are you guys going to start blaming Biden, Hillary, and Obama for covid 19?

End of story.

[redstatebluegirl]

9. I refuse to focus on Woodward, that is what Trump wants us to do!

Yes, he should have said something sooner, but the fact is this President killed 190,000 Americans. We cannot let him use Woodward as a diversion or distraction. He is GUILTY!

[malaise]

14. Precisely

Focus on the Con and his kakistocracy

[ooky]

21. Agree. We need to focus on this, and

mix in some "suckers and losers" and "social security".

[nsd]

35. Exactly

The focus on Woodward rather than Trump is self-defeating and dumb.

[duforsure]

10. There's a lot of suspected really bad things presently happening

And Woodward could have hid it completely from us. Attacking reporters will only decrease what they'll expose for us , not increase exposing the guilty. trumps lying has no limits also. Pence and republicans in Congress knew what trump was doing also. They also should be the focus of outrage. If he hadn't of recorded it all trump and republicans would be denying all this now, and calling it fake news and a hoax. Some are even with recordings of him saying it denying he said it.

[womanofthehills]

15. Agreed, why spend so much time attacking the messinger

There are more posts on DU putting down Woodward than posts about Trump's actions on the virus.

[Act_of_Reparation]

20. Quick question for you.

You have Rick Snyder on tape admitting the water in Flint is poison. Do you:

1) Tell someone.

or

2) Wait six months so you can put in your upcoming Rick Snyder tell-all going for $18.00 on Amazon?

Asking for a few colleagues in Flint who went with option 1.

[USALiberal]

22. 15th post about the SAME TOPIC! nt

[catrose]

26. I'd think he could at least have said, "Trump said..."

And he has the tapes to prove that. My state opened up in May and is now one of the top Covid locations. Maybe if a respected reporter had said something in May, or even the "Trump said" version earlier, maybe it would have been harder for the governor & his henchmen to pretend that everything was okay. And let's not forget how so many places put off closing down--could an article by Woodward have helped them close sooner?

[bigtree]

33. I think 'september surprising' it has been effective

...maybe more so, I dunno.

[Maru Kitteh]

38. Amoral, greedy, fucking coward, and I'd be happy to say that to his face. It WASN'T YOUR JOB

at that moment to play ameteur virologist. IT WAS your job to inform the world that the AMERICAN PRESIDENT was saying one thing in public and something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT behind the scenes. But you didn't because you had a book to sell.

The American president was endangering lives everywhere because he wasn't doing his job, and instead protecting his own interest.
YOU KNEW he wasn't being forthright. You didn't do your job, endangering lives everywhere in order to protect your own interest.

And when, in short order the scientific community confirmed SARS CoV-2 was many times deadlier than influenza, you knew that he knew, and you kept it to yourself because you had a book to sell.

When, a short time later airborne transmission was suspected, and then confirmed - ALL THAT WHILE - you knew that he knew, and you kept your amoral, greedy trap shut because you had a book to sell.


Holding Bob Woodward accountable IN NO WAY excuses fucking Trump but fuck you all to hell Bob. 200,000 Americans don't have the opportunity to debate your complicity. They're dead.

The medical community is still criminally short of PPE ahead of the most deadly season in modern American history. The mass graves of Brazil are overflowing with the victims of a regime emboldened by Trump's "just the flu" schtick. You go tell all the families of the fallen and disabled nurses and other healthcare workers about how you thought it was "interesting" that Trump knew how bad the virus was but you kept your dirty mouth shut because you had a book to sell.


A body wrapped in plastic is loaded onto a refrigerated container truck used as a temporary morgue by medical workers.

We ALL KNOW Trump is to blame. That does NOT absolve Woodward. I invite anyone who wants to defend either of them to go speak to the family of whoever is on that forklift, wrapped in plastic, ready to be stacked like cordwood in a refrigerated trailer 'morgue.'

[Politicub]

39. Criticizing him is the same as joining a circular firing squad...

even if you believe he should not have held back the revelations.

I'm on the fence about it, to be honest. If he had sounded the alarm earlier, he would not have built trust with Trump over time. But because Woodward flattered Trump, he was able to dig deeper into Trump's warped psyche. It would not have changed a single thing that Trump has done.

I'm glad Woodward is talking now. The timing is good for the election. Trump was already on the defensive with Biden, and now he has his own voice working against himself.

[rusty fender]

40. For someone like Woodward, cash always trumps

conscience. It is what it is

[GeorgeGist]

41. Bullshit Bob.

The quickest way to ferret a lie is to expose it.