According to the interviews, CNN and the Washington Post reported, Trump knew the virus was especially deadly in early February.

“It goes through the air,” Trump said in a recording of a Feb. 7 interview with Woodward. “That’s always tougher than the touch. You don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed.

“And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”

Moments later, Trump used the term deadly again: “This is deadly stuff.”

‘I wanted to always play it down’

The Republican president, who has been hammered by Democratic opponent Joe Biden over the slow U.S. government response to the coronavirus, played down the virus for months as it took hold and spread quickly across the country.

On Feb. 26, for example, he told reporters at a White House briefing that the 15 official cases the U.S. had at the time would soon be down to just a handful.

Two days later, he told a South Carolina rally that the coronavirus is “their new hoax,” referring to the Democrats.

“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told Woodward on March 19, days after he declared a national emergency. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”

In that conversation, Trump also told Woodward that some “startling facts” had just come out about the virus’s targets: “It’s not just old, older. Young people, too, plenty of young people.”

Trump stands by his words and actions

Asked about the comments during a White House press conference Wednesday afternoon, Trump said he didn’t want people to be frightened, but instead wanted to show confidence and strength as a nation.

“We’ve done well from any standard,” he told reporters. “It’s been an amazing job that we’ve done.”

Asked whether lives would have been saved had he been more honest during his February and March briefings, he said if he hadn’t done what he did, again citing his decision to partially close the border to China, millions of people would have died. 

“I think we’ve done from every standpoint an incredible job,” he said. “The last thing we can show is panic or excitement or fear and anything else.” 

WATCH | Trump is asked if he purposely misled Americans about severity of the coronavirus: 

Biden praises Michigan governor

At an appearance in Michigan where he met with automakers, Biden slammed Trump, pointing to a previously published Columbia University study arguing that had the U.S. enacted strong mitigation measures earlier than in March, tens of thousand of lives could have been saved.

“It was a life and death betrayal of the American people,” Biden said.

“He’s unfit for this job as a consequence.”

Biden drew a contrast between Trump and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was in attendance at the Warren, Mich., event. Whitmer faced criticism and protests after implementing lockdown measures in the spring.

“If you’re wondering what responsible, strong executive leadership looks like in COVID-19, just look at this executive here,” Biden said.

“You’ve listened to the experts and you led with science,” he said of Whitmer.

White House disputes Woodward book

Trump’s approach to the coronavirus in recent weeks has veered from solemnly telling the country it would “get worse before it gets better” in late July, to boosterism on reopening the economy, resuming professional sports and in-person classes at universities and schools. 

After holding a much-criticized indoor rally in Oklahoma in early July, Trump has resumed outdoor rallies and held a Republican convention that featured hundreds attending in person with little physical distancing on the final night, in contrast to the Democratic Party convention that was largely virtual.

While Trump has encouraged physical distancing in other circumstances and eagerly touted potential remedies, he has expressed resistance to promoting mask wearing and has at times taken issue with sober assesments made by the government’s infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

On Monday, the president chided a Reuters reporter for not taking his mask off while asking him a question.

While Trump and other administration officials have spent recent months slamming China for its handling of the virus, which first became apparent in Wuhan in January, those type of recriminations were absent from the released Woodward excerpts.

“I think he’s going to have it in good shape,” Trump said of Chinese Premier Xi Jinping in the Feb. 7 call.

Woodward conducted 18 interviews with Trump for the book, due to be released Sept 15. The veteran journalist, who gained fame for his Watergate coverage alongside Washington Post colleague Carl Bernstein, has long documented U.S. presidents, including Trump in a previous book, Fear.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump did not intentionally mislead Americans about the severity of the coronavirus epidemic.

“The president never downplayed the virus,” she said. “The president displayed calm.”

She again pointed to Trump’s decision to restrict travel from China effective Feb. 2, though it has since been learned that there were loopholes to the restrictions and that many infections in hard-hit New York state have been traced to travel from Europe.

Democratic members of Congress quickly seized on the report, with some including the trending hashtag #Trumpknew.

“It’s malfeasance for POTUS to admit he knew COVID was deadly but put on a happy face telling the American public, ‘It’s like a miracle, it will disappear,’ ” said California congresswoman Jackie Speier. “He did it for one reason — to prop up the stock market and his re-election. Now 190,000 dead Americans tell a different story.”

Other revelations in the book include Trump’s disparaging remarks about U.S. military leaders. He drew criticism last week following reports that he denigrated fallen military personnel and veterans.