by Bob Woodward
In a Michigan speech January 30 Trump said, “We have very little problem in this country at this moment—five. And those people are all recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for it, so that I can assure you.”
* * *
On Friday, January 31, about 3:00 p.m. Fauci, Azar and Redfield were hovering outside the Oval Office waiting to go in and make a presentation to Trump and Pence. They had been discussing the next steps. “They’re shutting down Wuhan,” Fauci said to the others. We better take them seriously. “We’d better shut them down.” They all knew the first rule of epidemiology: Time would govern how an outbreak could build with exponential growth and surprise and explode. Or be contained. That day three major airlines—American, Delta and United—had announced the suspension of flights between the U.S. and China for the next several months.
Eventually they were shown in and took chairs around the front of the Resolute Desk awaiting the president. O’Brien and Pottinger sat further away, near the couches. The door from Trump’s inner private office swung open and he walked in.
How’s everybody? he asked in a friendly collegial tone. How’s everything?
“Mr. President,” Vice President Pence said, “Secretary Azar’s going to introduce something and then we’re going to hand it over to see if you have any questions of Tony and Bob.”
“Mr. President,” Azar said, “we have a lot of activity in China. They clearly have a major outbreak. They are shutting down major parts of the country including, essentially, the whole city of Wuhan, and we think that there’s a considerable danger of there being a large influx of people coming in from China.”
One calculation was that 22,000 people a day came into the United States from China. At the end of the week over 100,000 people were coming from a country that had already shut themselves down because of the coronavirus.
“So it looks like we really need to shut ourselves down,” Azar said. Travel from China into the United States needed to be dramatically restricted.
Trump turned to Fauci, the face of reasonable, authoritative, white-coat advice. What do you think, Tony? Trump asked.
“You just heard it, Mr. President,” Fauci answered. He sat right across from the president at his desk. “It’s pretty clear that we have a big infection concentrated in China, and we have thousands of Chinese coming in every day. So it really looks like we’re really got to shut it down.” There were six cases in the U.S.
“Do you think it’s the right thing to do?” Trump asked. “What is that going to mean?”
There was some discussion that trade and commerce could probably continue. Products from China could continue to be imported.
Americans would be allowed back but only if they quarantined themselves for 14 days, which is the incubation period for the virus. “We’ve got to let Americans come back, because part of the tradition of our country is that you don’t strand Americans outside the country,” Fauci said.
They told Trump that it would be the first mandatory federal quarantine in 50 years. The last had been the smallpox scare of 1969.
How is this virus different from the flu? Trump asked. In a bad season like 2017–18 some 60,000 people died from the flu in the United States.
We don’t know anything about this virus, Fauci answered. “We don’t know where it’s going. We don’t know what its potential is. And as bad as flu is, we have so many decades of experience with seasonal flu. Even though there are a certain number of hospitalizations and deaths each year, we kind of have a pretty good idea of what the endgame is with flu. We know what a good season is. We know what a bad season is. With this, it’s all uncharted waters. That’s why we’re reacting. Because of what we’re seeing is happening in China. It’s devastating the place. So whatever the hell is going on in China right now is a hell of a lot different than a regular flu season.”
“Is this a brand-new virus?” Trump asked.
“You bet it’s brand-new,” Fauci said.
Azar and Redfield seconded this.
There were two apparent differences, Fauci said, from earlier viruses like SARS. First it apparently transmits human-to-human more easily and apparently faster. Second, people who do not have symptoms, called asymptomatic, can transmit this virus. That was not the case with SARS or most earlier viruses. But there were one or two cases of clear asymptomatic spread in China. “We don’t know the extent of what this is going to be, but clearly it is happening.”
Fauci knew from a report from Germany that asymptomatic spread “is absolutely the case.” The German report, printed as a letter to the editor on the New England Journal of Medicine’s website on January 30, stated, “The fact that asymptomatic persons are potential sources of 2019-NCoV infection may warrant a reassessment of transmission dynamics of the current outbreak.” The language was technical and understated, but the message about the dangers posed by asymptomatic spread was clear.
Azar, Redfield and Fauci were recommending strong travel restrictions on China.
Mick Mulvaney, a 52-year-old conservative former congressman with a gentle style who had been acting White House chief of staff for a year, said he thought they might consider some unintended consequences.
What’s going to happen to the stock market? Mulvaney asked. What’s going to happen with the tenuous trade relationship? The overall relationship with China? Would the Chinese retaliate? There would be things that might happen that we are not anticipating.
The consensus from the three health officials was that if there was an outbreak in the United States, the consequences of not restricting travel from China might be worse.
“Are you guys comfortable with this?” Trump asked.
They were.
Do you feel confident that this is the way to go?
Yes.
“Tony, are you sure, now?” he asked of Fauci.
“Yes, Mr. President,” Fauci said. “I think this is the only way we’ve got to go right now.”
Almost speaking in one voice the three reiterated that we have to prevent American citizens returning from China from causing infections here. So the Americans would have to be quarantined for 14 days so if they are infected they would pass the incubation period.
“Okay,” Trump said. “That’s fine.” He looked at O’Brien and Pottinger, who were in the back in the Oval Office away from the desk. “Are you guys okay with this?”
O’Brien said he was.
“Absolutely,” said Pottinger, the hawk. “This is the only way to go.”
Trump gave his final approval, and Azar, Redfield and Fauci went out to announce the Chinese travel restrictions in the White House press room.
Redfield spoke first. “This is a serious health situation in China, but I want to emphasize that the risk to the American public currently is low.” He repeated himself for emphasis. “We have confirmed six cases of this novel virus in the United States. The most recent case had no travel history to China.”
China was reporting 9,700 cases and more than 200 deaths.
Fauci twice said there were lots of unknowns. “We still have a low risk to the American public.”
Finally, Azar spoke. “Today President Trump took decisive action to minimize the risk of the spread of novel coronavirus in the United States,” he announced. “I have today declared that the coronavirus presents a public health emergency in the United States.” He said that U.S. citizens returning from China would undergo 14 days of mandatory quarantine, and that Trump had signed a presidential proclamation “temporarily suspending the entry into the United States of foreign nationals who pose a risk of transmitting the 2019 novel coronavirus”—namely foreign nationals who had traveled in China within the last 14 days. Azar called the measure “prudent, targeted and temporary” and stressed once more that “the risk of infection for Americans remains low.”
“Administration Elevates Response to Coronavirus, Quaranti
nes, Travel Restrictions” ran the headline of the lead story in The Washington Post the next day, pushing impeachment aside. In The New York Times the news appeared below the fold, headlined, “Declaring Health Emergency, U.S. Restricts Travel from China.”
Despite the conclusive evidence that at least five people wanted the restrictions—Fauci, Azar, Redfield, O’Brien and Pottinger—in an interview March 19, President Trump told me he deserved exclusive credit for the travel restrictions from China. “I had 21 people in my office, in the Oval Office, and of the 21 there was one person that said we have to close it down. That was me. Nobody wanted to because it was too early.”
On May 6, he told me, “And let me tell you, I had a room of 20 to 21 people and everyone in that room except me did not want to have that ban.”
At least seven times, including a press briefing, a televised town hall, interviews on Fox News and ABC and in meetings with industry executives and Republican lawmakers, he has repeated versions of this story.
Even when he made what appears to have been a tough and sound decision on the advice of his top national security and medical experts, he wanted—and took—all the credit for himself.
I. See prologue.
THIRTY-TWO
Trump’s State of the Union address, February 4, was a rousing, self-confident one-hour, 18 minutes that will likely be remembered most for its theatrical tribute to Rush Limbaugh. The conservative and controversial radio host had revealed the day before he had been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. Trump announced he was awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to a visibly stunned Limbaugh. Just as theatrically, Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up a copy of Trump’s speech on camera.
The next day, February 5, 2020, the Senate acquitted Trump on the two articles of impeachment, with a vote of 52 to 48 on abuse of power and 53 to 47 on obstruction of Congress. Senator Mitt Romney of Utah was the sole Republican who voted to convict the president along with all the Democrats, and did so only on the abuse of power count.
“What he did was not perfect,” Romney said in an impassioned speech before the vote. “No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office I can imagine.”
Just eight years earlier, Romney had been the Republican party’s presidential nominee—a split he spoke of in near-biblical terms.
“I’m sure to hear abuse from the president and his supporters,” he said. “Does anyone seriously believe that I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?”
Even for many of the GOP senators who voted to acquit Trump on both charges, it was hardly a day of celebration.
Senator Lamar Alexander—at age 79, an old-school establishment Republican and two-time presidential candidate who was not running for reelection to the Senate—acted, for many, as the conscience of the Senate majority. While he said Trump’s behavior did not meet “the Constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense,” he conceded Trump had acted improperly. Questions about whether Trump deserved to remain in the presidency, he said, should be left to voters in the 2020 election, now only nine months away.
“It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation,” Alexander said. “When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law.”
In total, 10 Republican senators who voted to acquit said in statements or interviews Trump’s actions were wrong, improper or inappropriate. “Let me be clear, Lamar speaks for lots and lots of us,” Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, said. “I believe that delaying the aid was inappropriate and wrong.”
The president had won the votes of these Republicans, but not their approval.
Former DNI and senator Dan Coats, out of the administration for five months, watched Trump’s impeachment with few illusions. He felt he understood the Senate far better than the intelligence world or the White House. He was sure every senator up there, including the Republicans, knew what had transpired. Trump obviously had pushed for an investigation of the Bidens and had delayed or stymied the aid to Ukraine. Was this sufficient to remove Trump from office? It was possible to argue either way. But to remove a president with a such a strong base in their party was pretty much unthinkable. A shrinking minority of Republicans genuinely supported Trump. The others had made a political survival decision.
With all the “formers” attached to his name, Coats did not want to be the person to speak out and say, “Hey, you guys got to stand up.” So he remained silent.
* * *
After the travel restrictions were imposed, China was still not allowing American government health officials in, O’Brien and Pottinger reported to the president in an update.
Should I talk to President Xi? Trump asked. Should I make a call? Do you think Xi would call us if he was ready? Could this be embarrassing for Xi? Let’s offer a call, Trump finally decided.
The Chinese never accepted a proposed call on the spot. In the meantime, Trump had calls with other heads of state. His common refrain: Can you believe this happened? Things were going incredibly well, Trump said, and this came out of the blue.
Listening on the calls, O’Brien thought, Well it actually didn’t come out of the blue. It came out of China. It’s derailed us.
The call with Xi was finally arranged for Thursday, February 6, at 9:00 p.m. Washington time. The Senate had acquitted Trump in his impeachment trial the day before.
Trump took the call in the White House residence. Though he had a reputation for bravado and harshness, he began with his trademark personal greeting—pleasant and collegial, just a few sentences. He had a tendency in calls like this to be sympathetic. Pottinger was on the call and considered it “very Trumpian.”
Trump got down to business quickly, for him. I just wanted to call and say that we will help 100 percent on the Covid-19, Trump said. We have tremendous health officials. And while I know you can do it, we have great experts who are willing to help.
We have the Centers for Disease Control, Trump continued. They handled the Ebola crisis in Africa. We would love to help you and wipe this out. We want to eradicate this virus and the people at CDC are ready to, but they need visas.
It was unusual for the president to discuss routine logistics like visas.
Xi thanked Trump for the offer but was noncommittal, sidestepping the request. But he didn’t say no outright. Xi noted China was working with the World Health Organization to coordinate for outside experts to come in, and suggested the U.S. could participate in a WHO delegation.
Xi said he was personally overseeing China’s effort and had made major progress. He gave the general impression that everything was under control.
For a second time, Trump pressed in a nonconfrontational way for Xi to allow American health officials in. Help from the U.S. would arrive if President Xi asked for it, he said.
Xi said China was being open and transparent, and said that China’s actions were safeguarding not just China, but the world. Then, Xi mentioned that the WHO was calling on countries to refrain from excessive reactions. “I ask the United States and your officials not take excessive actions that would create further panic.”
“Panic” was an unusually strong word. It was clear Xi was obliquely criticizing the United States for restricting travel from China, but he did not go further other than to indicate that he would like the international flights restored.
Trump expressed hope that warmer weather might play a role in minimizing the threat of the virus, and Xi suggested it was possible. Temperature plays a big role, he said. Once it gets into the 50s Fahrenheit, the virus does not really hold up well. China did not have
anything definitive on treatments that might work, he said. He compared it to the 2003 SARS outbreak.
Trump, taken aback that he’d been rebuffed twice, shifted to mention in hopeful terms the trade deal the two countries had signed two weeks earlier. Xi seemed to have no more to say, so Trump shifted again.
The state visit to China that he and Melania had made in 2017 was the most impressive foreign visit they had experienced, Trump said.
You and the first lady come again once the situation permits, Xi said.
Trump had persisted in making multiple offers to send U.S. health officials, but had gotten nowhere with Xi.
The call had lasted 30 minutes but only had about 15 minutes of substance because of delays for translation.I
That weekend, on February 9, Fauci, Redfield and other members of the Coronavirus Task Force took their seats at a table in a large conference room in Washington. Over 25 state governors, in town for a National Governors Association meeting and scheduled to attend a black-tie dinner with Trump later that night, had asked for a briefing on the coronavirus. Sitting at three long tables in a U-shaped layout, the governors wanted guidance and seemed to be looking for the inside story.
The coronavirus outbreak is going to get much, much worse before it gets better, Redfield warned.
We have not even seen the beginning of the worst, Redfield said, letting his words sink in. There is no reason to believe that what’s happening in China is not going to happen here, he said. There were nearly 40,000 cases in China then, with more than 800 deaths, barely five weeks after announcing the first cases.
I agree completely, Fauci told the governors. This is very serious business. You need to be prepared for problems in your cities and your states. Fauci could see the alarm on the governors’ faces.