President Donald Trump acknowledged Wednesday that he publicly downplayed the threat of COVID-19 for weeks as the coronavirus spread across the globe — even after he received briefings early this year about the severity of the looming pandemic. Trump was responding to a reporter who asked if he misled the public in order to reduce panic.

President Donald Trump: “Well, I think if you said in order to reduce panic, perhaps that’s so. The fact is, I’m a cheerleader for this country. I love our country. And I don’t want people to be frightened. I don’t want to create panic.”

Trump’s admission came hours after Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward published bombshell excerpts from his forthcoming book about Trump titled “Rage,” along with taped conversations with the president. In a February 7 phone call, Trump told Woodward about what he learned about the novel coronavirus from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

President Donald Trump: “It goes through air, Bob. That’s always tougher than the touch. You know, 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 your — you know, your — even your strenuous flus. … This is more deadly. This is 5 per — you know, this is 5% versus 1% and less than 1%. You know, so this is deadly stuff.”

President Trump made those comments on February 7. The White House wouldn’t declare a national emergency until March 13. During the intervening weeks, Trump repeatedly and forcefully denied that coronavirus posed a significant threat to the American people. For instance, on March 4, Trump dismissed a World Health Organization finding that the global death rate from COVID-19 was 3.4%. Trump was speaking on Fox News.

President Donald Trump: “Well, I think the 3.4% is really a false number. Now, this is just my hunch, and — but based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this, because a lot of people will have this, and it’s very mild.”

Two weeks after those comments, on March 19, Trump privately admitted in another call with Bob Woodward that he had publicly downplayed the severity of the pandemic.

President Donald Trump: “I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down” —

Bob Woodward: “Yes.”

President Donald Trump: — “because I don’t want to create a panic.”

Columbia University disease modelers report that if states had begun social distancing measures just one week earlier in March, 36,000 fewer people would have died.