‘You just don’t like the answer’: Peter Navarro feuds with Jake Tapper about Trump downplaying coronavirus

CNN anchor Jake Tapper clashed with Peter Navarro during a contentious exchange on Sunday about President Trump’s private comments about the severity of the coronavirus to journalist Bob Woodward, which were caught on tape.

When asked to explain why Trump told Woodward in early February that the coronavirus was more fatal than the seasonal flu but then told the public that the flu was more serious than COVID-19 in March, Navarro dove into a lengthy play-by-play description about the president’s response to the health crisis, prompting the State of the Union host to cut in.

“I’m not giving you 10 minutes to do this,” Tapper said. “I’m specifically talking about what President Trump was saying to the public in February and March.”

Navarro accused Tapper of “constantly interrupting” and not letting him answer the question. He continued to explain that he believed that Trump was “in the fog of war” because so little was known about the virus during the early days of the pandemic. Tapper again cut off Navarro and asked him to address why Trump told the public that COVID-19 was less deadly than the flu.

“On Feb. 7, he knew that it was in the air, that it was 5 times deadlier than the flu. That’s on the tapes,” Tapper said. “Two weeks later, he is saying that the flu is deadlier than the coronavirus. Why wasn’t he honest? I want you to answer the question.”

Navorro responded, “I am answering your question. You just don’t like the answer. The answer is in February all the way through the middle of March, when the World Health Organization finally said there was a pandemic and China was hiding the information, finally. That’s when we knew that there was a pandemic.”

The interview remained contentious until the end. The CNN anchor accused Navarro of dodging the question while the White House adviser told Tapper, “You’re not honest with the American people. CNN is not honest with the American people.”