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HHS secretary Alex Azar "directly warned Trump of the possibility of a pandemic during a call on Jan. 30, the second warning he delivered to the president about the virus in two weeks. The president...responded that Mr. Azar was being alarmist." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
"Trump fumed as he watched the stock market crash after Dr. Messonnier’s comments. Furious, he called Mr. Azar when he landed at around 6 a.m. on Feb. 26, raging that Dr. Messonnier had scared people unnecessarily." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
"The number of infections in the US started to surge through Feb and early March, but the admin did not move to place large-scale orders for masks and other protective equipment, or critical hospital equipment such as ventilators. Pentagon sat on standby' https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
This is a key detail from the new NYT expose. Senators directly told administration officials that they would need more money for the response in early Feb. Those officials replied that they didn't need any more funding:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
This new NYT reporting confirms to the letter the detailed account that @ChrisMurphyCT gave me in an interview, in which he described these early meetings:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/30/no-national-strategy-one-senators-alarming-account-first-days/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/30/no-national-strategy-one-senators-alarming-account-first-days/
Here's another key detail from the NYT:
Coronavirus "took a back seat" to Trump's "desire not to upset Beijing during trade talks."
It's only *later* that Trump lurched around to blaming China, after he needed to shift blame for what was happening:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
Coronavirus "took a back seat" to Trump's "desire not to upset Beijing during trade talks."
It's only *later* that Trump lurched around to blaming China, after he needed to shift blame for what was happening:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
Importantly, this new reporting delivers another hard blow to the Trump campaign's whole campaign narrative (captured in that disgusting new ad) that Biden was soft on China and coronavirus: https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1248695817730428929
