In early January, Trump
was warned about a
deadly new virus in China. He was also told that the Chinese government was
understating the outbreak. (
See this timeline for a detailed chronology of what Trump knew and when he knew it.) This was inconvenient, because Trump was about to sign a
lucrative trade deal with Beijing. “We have a great relationship with China right now, so I don’t want to speak badly of anyone,” Trump told Laura Ingraham in a
Fox News interview on Jan. 10. He added that he was looking forward to a second deal with Xi. When Ingraham asked about China’s violations of human rights, Trump begged off. “I’m riding a fine line because we’re making … great trade deals,” he pleaded.
President Donald Trump signs a trade agreement with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 15. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Trump signed the deal on Jan. 15. He lauded Xi and said
previous American presidents, not Xi, were at fault for past troubles between the two countries. Three days later, Alex Azar, Trump’s secretary of health and human services,
phoned him with an
update on the
spread of the novel coronavirus. On Jan. 21, the CDC announced the
first infection in the United States. Two of the government’s top health officials—Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases—said the virus was beginning to
circulate around the
world.
Trump would later claim that he
saw from the outset how grim the situation was. That was clear, he recalled, in the “
initial numbers coming out from China.” But at the time, he told Americans everything was fine. “
We’re in great shape,” he assured Maria Bartiromo in a Fox Business interview on Jan. 22. “China’s in good shape, too.” He preferred to talk about trade instead. “The China deal is amazing, and we’ll be starting Phase Two very soon,” he said. On CNBC, Joe Kernen asked Trump whether there were any “worries about a pandemic.” “
No, not at all,” the president replied. “We have it totally under control.” When Kernen asked whether the Chinese were telling the whole truth about the virus, Trump said they were. “I have a great relationship with President Xi,” he boasted. “We just signed probably the biggest deal ever made.”