--- title: "Trump Reportedly Ignored Numerous Intel Warnings About COVID" description: "According to a new report, president Trump ignored more than a dozen classified briefings dating back to January that made mention of the coronavirus." date: "2020-04-28" modified: "2020-04-28" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/trump-reportedly-ignored-numerous-intel-warnings-covid" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "coronavirus" - "covid19" - "donald trump" --- # Trump Reportedly Ignored Numerous Intel Warnings About COVID ![]() *\Image: Gage Skidmore\* According to a [new report by *The Washington Post*](), president Donald Trump ignored more than a dozen classified briefings dating back to January and February that were prepared for him by US intelligence agencies. These briefings, in the form of the "President's Daily Brief" or PDB, mentioned the imminent threat of a global virus outbreak, and its dire political and economic consequences, more than a dozen times. The reports also noted that China was allegedly trying to keep the outbreak on the down-low by suppressing information. According to the *Post*'s anonymous sources, Trump routinely skips reading the PDB. Officials denied the validity of today's report. An source in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the team that puts together the daily briefing, said that "the detail of this is not true," in regards to the PDB repeatedly mentioning the virus, without elaborating. A different source told the *Post* that Trump definitively was told in person about the coronavirus by mid to late January. The repeated warnings certainly fell on deaf ears. On February 26, Trump made global headlines when [he claimed]() that the number of coronavirus cases would be "close to zero" within a couple of days and that it will "disappear," in his words, "like a miracle." The US now has crossed the one [million reported cases]() threshold with over [55,000 deaths](). ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()