President Donald Trump on Thursday denied lying to Americans about the severity of the coronavirus after a bombshell new book by journalist Bob Woodward revealed that he deliberately downplayed the crisis.
Trump's taped admission to Woodward that he minimized the pandemic in public, while being aware from the start about the unique danger presented by Covid-19, has set off alarm bells less than eight weeks before election day.
Asked at a hastily organized White House press conference "Why did you lie to the American people?" Trump responded: "I didn't lie."
The Republican, who is down in the polls against Democrat Joe Biden and faces overwhelming disapproval from Americans on his handling of the coronavirus crisis, insisted that he'd softened the dangers in public so as to preserve calm.
"I don't want to jump up and down and start screaming 'Death! Death!'" he argued.
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But Trump has been thrown onto the defense after multiple excerpts and recordings from Woodward's book "Rage" were released on Wednesday.
Following two Fox News interviews, dozens of tweets, and the press conference, Trump continued his bid to get his election message back on track by holding a rally with supporters in Freeland, Michigan.
He told the excited crowd that his approach to Covid-19 matched that of the British government in World War II with its famous "Keep calm and carry on" morale-boosting posters.