George Conway: What did Trump and Congress know about the #coronavirus, and when did they know it?

[riversedge]

What did Trump and Congress know about the coronavirus, and when did they know it?



By George T. Conway III and Carrie Cordero

March 25, 2020 at 1:11 p.m. CDT

George T. Conway III is a lawyer and an adviser to the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump super PAC. Carrie Cordero is the Robert M. Gates senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Both are co-founders of Checks & Balances, a network of lawyers advocating for the rule of law.



What did the president know about the coronavirus, and when did he know it? What did members of Congress know, and when did they know it?

According to a Post report, quite possibly a lot, and for quite a while: Intelligence agencies “were issuing ominous, classified warnings in January and February while President Trump and lawmakers played down the threat.”

These intelligence assessments about the global danger posed by the virus made the rounds in the executive and legislative branches, sources told The Post, but the American people weren’t told about them. Now Americans should know precisely what their government knew about an impending crisis that would jeopardize their livelihoods and lives.


These reports should be declassified, to the maximum extent feasible, and released as soon as possible, along with the identities of senior administration officials and members of Congress who learned of it. That’s especially true given how Trump repeatedly told the public that the impact of the virus on the United States would be minimal.

A small sampling.

Jan. 22: “We have it totally under control.”
Feb. 2: “Well, we pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”

Feb. 10: “By April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”

Feb. 24: “The Coronavirus very much under control in the USA. … Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

Feb. 26: “The risk to the American people remains very low.” At the same time, The Post reported, “Trump’s advisers struggled to get him to take the virus seriously,” despite telling him that “the virus was likely to dominate life in the United States for many months.”

The Post also reported that U.S. intelligence agencies “warned that Chinese officials appeared to be minimizing the severity of the outbreak,” with Trump being “told … that Beijing was not providing accurate numbers of people who were infected or who had died.” Yet Trump repeatedly praised China, and he even tweeted praise for its “transparency” on Jan. 24: “China has been working very hard … In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!

The intelligence reports raise questions about Congress as well. Every January or February for more than a decade, the House and Senate intelligence committees have held an unclassified public hearing on worldwide threats. The chiefs of the major intelligence agencies and the director of national intelligence appear under oath, and it’s one of the only opportunities for the public to hear from them directly. Accompanying that hearing comes a comprehensive, unclassified report on the most pressing national security threats facing the nation.



T................


No doubt Trump will claim the reports and briefings are classified. But it’s quite likely that much of the intelligence regarding coronavirus relied heavily on open-source information, which of course doesn’t need to be kept under wraps. .............................


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Declassification of the coronavirus reports and briefings could occur quickly, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t. Congressional intelligence committees can make immediate requests for the assessments and reports, and they can seek declassification for public release directly from the agencies that produced the information. While decisions regarding classification can, when difficult, percolate up to the director of national intelligence, or even the president, they don’t have to; agency heads have sufficient discretion of their own.


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And there’s no legitimate reason to keep that a secret.

[gibraltar72]

1. January 3rd 2020. A day that will live in infamy.

[lagomorph777]

2. ...and what securities did they trade after they knew, before we knew?

[Under The Radar]

3. George is giving the a Trump Administration too much credit

I don’t see Trump as Micheal Corleone, the GodFather but he seems more like Fredo and his thug friends. They are much more concerned about cashing in and looking the part than actually taking the responsibility of the organization.

[marble falls]

4. "And there's no legitimate reason to keep that a secret ...", other than Trump's inability ...

to speak the truth on purpose."

[MagickMuffin]

5. George, Do you NOT talk with your wife? She should know the answer.

PSSST: She's an insider!