DONALD TRUMP has sensationally claimed that he did not lie to the American people about the seriousness of coronavirus, just 24 hours after admitting that he had.
Earlier this week, the President said he tried to downplay the severity of the Covid-19 crisis to avoid causing public panic.
"I'm a cheerleader for this country. I don't want people to be frightened. I don’t want to create panic," he told reporters.
"Leadership is about confidence. Confidence is confidence in our country."
But now he claims he didn't mislead the American people at all.
"I didn't lie," Trump told reporters on Thursday.
"What I said is we have to be calm, we can't be panicked."
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 10: U.S. President Donald Trump departs a news conference at the White House on September 10, 2020 in Washington, DC.On Wednesday, Trump was responding to questions fielded to him about audio recordings which were released - dating back to February this year - in which the President can be heard speaking about the virus, admitting "this is deadly stuff".
"You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed. And so that’s a very tricky one," Trump said in the recordings.
"That’s a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flu."
The President was widely criticised because his public stance since the outbreak of the virus has been very dismissive - both of the disease's potency and of the severity of the pandemic itself.
On Thursday, Trump was pressed on this hypocrisy.
"Listen, what I went out and said is very simple. I want to show a level of confidence and I want to show strength as a leader, and I want to show that our country is going to be fine one way or the other," he said.
"I don't want to jump up and down and start screaming 'Death! Death!' because that's not what it's about.
"We have to lead a country. We're leading a great country and we're doing a great job.
"The fact is, there has to be a calmness. You don't want me jumping up and down screaming 'There's going to be great death', and really causing some very, very serious problems for the country."
