‘I’m a Cheerleader for This Country’: Trump Defends Downplaying Covid, Calls Woodward Book a ‘Political Hit Job’

President Donald Trump was confronted Wednesday afternoon over his comments to Bob Woodward about his downplaying of the seriousness of coronavirus early on.

Trump told Woodward months ago on tape that he “always wanted to play it down” and acknowledged it was more serious than the flu, despite subsequent comments downplaying the severity he made in public.

The president Wednesday announced his new list for potential future Supreme Court justices, including three Republican senators, but when it came time for questions he was immediately confronted by reporter after reporter over his acknowledgement that he was downplaying the global pandemic.

“I’m a cheerleader for this country,” Trump said. “I love our country. And I don’t want people to be frightened. I don’t want to create panic as you say. Certainly I’m not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy. We want to show confidence, we want to show strength, we want to show strength as a nation. That’s what I’ve done. We’ve done very well.”

He continued to defend the U.S. response the coronavirus overall before insisting again he didn’t want to “instill panic.”

“How do you reassure the American public going forward that they can trust what you’re saying?” one reporter asked.

Trump again went back to saying he didn’t want to “create a panic.”

“We don’t want to have to show panic. We’re not going to show panic. That’s exactly what I did. And I was very open, whether it’s to Woodward or anybody else,” Trump said, before calling the book “another political hit job.”

The president sat down for 18 interviews with Woodward, who apparently has nine hours worth of audio from their conversations.

You can watch above, via Fox News.