President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied that he had downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, claiming he “up-played” the danger of the disease through his actions – despite privately admitting months earlier that “I wanted to always play it down.” 

Trump, speaking at an ABC News town hall event with voters in Philadelphia, also said he didn’t regret anything about his response to the pandemic. He repeated his refrain that the virus will “go away” even without an effective vaccine, saying that over time Americans will develop “a herd mentality.”

The president’s assertion that “in many ways I up-played it in terms of action” came less than a week after the release of audio from an interview with veteran journalist Bob Woodward, in which Trump said of the coronavirus: “I wanted to always play it down … I still like playing it down, because I don’t want …continued .
[Source: CNBC News]