In the long weeks and months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, one of the most pressing questions was how.
How did it happen?
Over time it was learned that the 9/11 attacks were not a complete surprise.
While the specific date and targets were unknown, various federal intelligence agencies had gathered enough information suggesting something was going to happen sooner rather than later.
In August 2001 — a full month before the catastrophic event —then President George W. Bush received a memo stating the terrorist organization al Qaeda was planning an attack.
When legislators and the public learned that warning signs had been unheeded there was, of course, finger pointing. But there was also a healthy dose of bipartisan outrage. Why hadn’t the administration acted sooner? Perhaps some of the 2,977 lives lost on Sept. 11 could have been saved if it had acted on what it knew.
On Sept. 9, 2020, an on-the-record recording of President Donald Trump has him telling a former reporter and successful author that he was aware of how dangerous COVID-19 is.
“It goes through the air…That’s always tougher than the touch. You don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed.. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus,” Trump told Bob Woodward in February of this year.
It turns out the president knew the severity of this pandemic long before local and state officials were able to implement safety precautions that could help stop the spread of the virus and, perhaps, lessen the damage to local and state economies by acting sooner.
He knew how deadly the pandemic was and still told Americans the pandemic was a hoax.
He knew the virus was airborne and still did not encourage people to wear face coverings, requiring fans at his campaign rallies to sign waivers just in case they got sick.
He knew the virus was “more deadly” and still insisted that schools reopen and businesses operate as though everything would be fine.
Chula Vista and National City have suffered economically and personally because Donald Trump lied. Who knew?
