Mediaite reports:
The audio starts with President Trump admitting to Woodward, “And Bob, it’s so easily transmissible, you wouldn’t believe it,” to which the author replied, “I know.” Trump then proceeded to tell a story about an Oval Office meeting with ten people in which someone “innocently” sneezed. According to the commander-in-chief, “the entire room bailed out, including me.”
After the clip airs, Woodward laughs at the bizarre nature of the innocent sneeze story. Colbert’s reaction, however, is more telling, saying, “I know he’s making light there, again, at the end, but at the heart of that is something extraordinarily shocking.” In mid-April, President Trump was continuing to push to reopen the US economy despite his explicit knowledge of the potentially deadly levels of contagiousness.
WOW—On April 13, Trump tells Woodward that the virus is “so easily transmissible, you wouldn’t believe it.” Says someone sneezed during a meeting in Oval and everyone “bailed out including me.”
➡️ Damnit everyone in WH already knew it was bad. #COVID19pic.twitter.com/hip0qYn0ZI
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) September 14, 2020