Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose father died of the novel coronavirus, blasted President Trump on Wednesday for telling Bob Woodward in March that he intended to “play [the virus] down.”
“All I can think about is my father and the nearly 200,000 other people who lost their lives to COVID-19 as a result of this president’s gross negligence and lies,” Omar tweeted. “Trump had the power to save lives and went out of his way not to.”
Omar announced the death of her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, of complications from the virus in June.
“No words can describe what he meant to me and all who knew him,” Omar said at the time. “My family and I ask for your respect and privacy during this time.”
Excerpts released Wednesday from Woodward’s book “Rage” revealed that Trump called the virus “deadly” as early as Feb. 7.
“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said in a Feb. 7 call with Woodward. “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu.” The same month, Trump publicly predicted the U.S. would soon have “close to zero” cases of the virus. A month later, he specifically compared the caseload and death toll to a typical flu season.
Trump also told Woodward in a March call that he “wanted to always play [the pandemic] down” in order to avoid creating panic.
Omar is one of several lawmakers who have lost relatives to the virus. House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters’s (D-Calif.) sister died of complications from the virus, as did Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) brother.