采访录音曝光！原来特朗普早就知道了……

据美国《国会山报》9日报道，特朗普当天在白宫接受采访时承认，今年早些时候自己淡化了疫情，因为他想要减少由于疫情蔓延而引发的恐慌。

US President Trump on Wednesday acknowledged that he downplayed the novel coronavirus earlier this year, arguing that he wanted to "reduce panic" about the spreading disease by publicly minimizing its threat.

“事实是，我是这个国家的啦啦队长。我爱我们的国家。我不想让人们感到害怕，我不想制造恐慌，就像你说的那样；当然我也不会让这个国家或者这个世界陷入疯狂。”特朗普表示。

他还说：“我们想要展现出信心。我们想要展现出力量。我们想要展现出一个国家的力量。而这就是我所做的。”

“I’m a cheerleader for this country,” he told reporters during an unrelated White House briefing. “I don’t want people to be frightened. I don’t want to create panic.

“We want to show confidence. We want to show strength. We want to show strength as a nation. And that’s what I’ve done.”

而特朗普在新闻发布会的这番言论也引发了众多热议，戳视频了解详情↓↓↓

据报道，特朗普此次言论是对知名记者鲍勃·伍德沃德新书内容的首次回应。该书爆料称美国总统特朗普早已知晓新冠病毒的“致命性”，但仍坚持淡化疫情的严重性。而特朗普与伍德沃德的一系列采访录音也于近日曝光。

图源：CNN报道截图

The remarks marked Trump's first response to the uproar over his comments to Bob Woodward in the journalist's forthcoming book, "Rage". Audio recordings from Woodward's interviews with Trump were released earlier Wednesday. In them, Trump tells Woodward that he "wanted to always play [the virus] down" to avoid creating a panic.

在CNN曝光的采访录音片段中，特朗普早在2月7日就知道新冠病毒的危险性：这种病毒是通过空气传播的，比流感还要致命。

图源：CNN视频

US President Trump during a February 7 interview with Bob Woodward, said that he understood coronavirus was dangerous, airborne, and more deadly than the flu.

3月19日，特朗普在采访中向伍德沃德表示，不光是老年人，许多年轻人也感染了新冠病毒，但尽管如此，他还故意淡化病毒的危险性，避免制造恐慌。

图源：CNN报道截图

而在7月份与伍德沃德的最后一段采访中，特朗普则直接甩了锅，称病毒和他毫无关系，自己并无过错。

In his final interview with Woodward in July, the president washed his hands of any responsibility for the spread of the virus in the U.S., which has now killed nearly 190,000 Americans.

"The virus has nothing to do with me," Mr. Trump told Woodward. "It's not my fault.”

而明面上，特朗普在此期间曾多次公开表态，淡化病毒的威胁。二月份时他将新冠病毒视为普通流感，还预言4月份天气转暖后病毒就会消失。尽管科学家们指出除非广泛接种疫苗，否则病毒不会根除，但他仍在多个场合坚称病毒会“自行消失”。

图源：CNN视频

Publicly, Trump downplayed the threat of the virus repeatedly. He compared it to the common flu in February, and he predicted that the virus would dissipate in April when the weather warmed. He has on multiple occasions argued the virus will be "going away," even as scientists note it will not be eradicated without widespread vaccine distribution.

在接受美联社采访时，该书作者伍德沃德表示，自己采访特朗普后并未立即曝光这些信息是因为想要确保特朗普的这些言论是准确的。

图源：Associated Press报道截图

Woodward defended his decision to withhold his reporting about Mr. Trump's concerns over the severity of the virus in an interview with the Associated Press. Woodward said he needed to be sure Mr. Trump's comments from February were accurate.

“他告诉我这件事，我就在想：‘哇真有意思，但这件事是真的吗？’特朗普也会说出一些未经查证的事情，不是吗？”

“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?”

当地时间周四早上，特朗普发推再次回应了伍德沃德新书以及自己淡化疫情一事↓↓↓

“鲍勃·伍德沃德好几个月前就掌握了我说的话。如果他觉得这些话那么糟糕或者危险，为什么不马上就曝出来，来挽救生命？难道他没有义务这样做吗？不，因为他很清楚这都是正确的。冷静，不要恐慌！”

综合来源：CNN The Hill CBS CNBC Los Angeles Times New York Post Associated Press

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