[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 156 (Thursday, September 10, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S5529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Trump Administration

  Madam President, now on President Trump, yesterday it was reported 
that, in taped interviews with Bob Woodward, President Trump 
acknowledged that he knew the danger posed by COVID-19 way back in 
February but he deliberately--deliberately--downplayed the threat to 
the American people. We now know that the President wasn't ill-
informed. He wasn't being overly optimistic. He was lying to the 
American people. He was deliberately downplaying the virus to the 
American people at a time when early and forceful action could have 
saved so many lives.
  Look, when the house is on fire--a five-alarm fire--you have an 
obligation to let people know. If you don't, they are going to burn, 
and they are going to die.
  When we look at the rest of the world and see why they are doing 
better than we are in fighting this disease, the reason is simple: They 
had some leadership. We have had none from the White House--none. We 
have had lying. We have had ignoring the problem. We have had 
misleading the American people but no leadership at a time when we 
desperately need it.
  Other leaders around the world were clear about science. They faced 
up to the problem and worked hard to solve it. They instituted policies 
to test, trace, and isolate. We had a President who simply lied about 
the dangers of the disease and suggested that Americans inject bleach. 
Other leaders took responsibility and ownership. We had a President who 
said: ``It is what it is.'' In the annals of history, this will be one 
of the five greatest examples of lack of leadership in American 
history.
  President Trump, the history books are not going to regard you 
kindly. They are not going to regard you kindly.
  The President is coming up with great excuses now for his perfidious 
lies. This time, he said he didn't want to tell the truth about COVID 
because it might cause panic. Really? Is this the same President who is 
busy panicking America right now, telling women in the suburbs that 
their safety is at risk when the suburbs are not at risk at all? Is 
this the same President who invented a caravan of migrants in an 
attempt to panic Americans before the last election? This President 
always uses panic as a tool when he thinks it serves his interest, so 
the idea that he did it because he didn't want to panic Americans does 
not ring true. It seems like an ex post facto excuse for the 
President's perfidious lies. President Trump doesn't mind panicking 
people when it serves his interest. What is worse is that he will not 
tell the truth when it hurts his interest, even if lives are at stake.
  The President's comments in this interview were despicable. It should 
serve as a warning to all Americans about who this man is and his 
total, complete abject failure to lead.
  (Mr. SCOTT of Florida assumed the Chair.)