The Real Story Behind Trump's Tweet Praising China For Its COVID-19 Response

KEY POINTS

Trump's HHS secretary tried to stop him from tweeting praise of Xi
"For the love of God, don't do that," Alex Azar told Trump: Book
Trump recently slammed China, saying Beijing should pay

Former President Donald Trump went against the recommendation of a top health official when he praised Chinese President Xi Jinping in a tweet in January 2020, a new book revealed.

On Jan. 24, 2020, Trump took to Twitter to praise the Chinese government for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which at the time was spreading rapidly in the United States.

“China has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!” he wrote in a tweet, which was later deleted, CNN reported.

But a new book published Tuesday revealed that Trump had ignored recommendations from Alex Azar, then-secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), against praising China’s COVID-19 pandemic response.

According to the “Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration's Response to the Pandemic That Changed History” written by The Washington Post’s Damian Paletta and Yasmeen Abutaleb, Azar floated the idea of pressuring the Chinese government to force it to take more action against the novel coronavirus.

The HHS secretary also said that pressuring the Chinese government to cooperate may allow officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitor the COVID-19 situation in the country.

“I’m going to put out a tweet praising Xi,” Trump replied, the book said. "For the love of God, don't do that,” Azar pled.

However, Trump still continued with the tweet, thinking it would be wise to praise the Chinese leader, the book said, according to the Business Insider.

Azar then appealed to White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien to stop the “premature” tweet. However, Dan Scavino, who served as the former president’s social media advisor, had already sent out the tweet.

The revelations in the book came after Trump, on June 24, slammed early critics of the “Wuhan lab-leak theory” in a new interview and said China should pay for the pandemic.

“I said it a long time ago, right from the beginning. And when you look at Wuhan and that’s where it all started, and then you look at the Wuhan lab and that’s what they were doing, it seemed pretty obvious to me. I called it a long time ago,” Trump said on Fox Nation.