Trump Misquotes Fauci on Coronavirus Threat

Defending his early response to the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump wrongly claimed that in late February, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was saying, “This is no problem. This is going to blow over.”

In a Feb. 29 interview, Fauci said that “right now at this moment” the risk was “low” and there was “no need” for people “to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis.” But he added that “this could change,” that people needed to be wary of “community spread,” and that it could develop into a “major outbreak.”

Trump’s comment came in response to a question about press reports that he ignored warnings about the growing threat of the coronavirus in more than a dozen classified intelligence briefings included in the President’s Daily Brief in January and February.

: Mr. President, can you clarify what