Trump's 'Most Impressively Choreographed Event' Revealed, Almost Wore Superman Costume

Former President Donald Trump nearly wore a superhero costume during a “choreographed event” at the White House in October 2020.

In the book “Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show” by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, the author revealed that Trump had planned a dramatic return to the White House after being hospitalized for COVID-19. Karl considered it the “most impressively choreographer event of his presidency.”

Karl said the former president had timed his departure from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at 6:30 p.m., in time for him to arrive at the White House at sundown when there were nearly 24 million Americans tuned in to primetime TV.

The author also alleged that the former president had planned on wearing a Superman costume under his dress shirt for the event. Trump thought of ripping off his shirt to reveal the giant S on his chest, but his team had rejected the plan. Trump ended up standing on the balcony where he gave reporters a thumbs-up and a salute.

"It was like a Broadway production," the former president told Karl in March, according to the book — an early copy of which was obtained by the Business Insider.

Trump announced that he and then-first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19 in the early hours of Oct. 2, 2020. However, it is unclear when Trump first tested positive for the virus.

Before he contracted COVID-19, the former president had repeatedly downplayed the severity of the pandemic. In the hours before his announcement, he told an audience that “the end of the pandemic is in sight” via a pre-recorded address to the annual Alfred E. Smith fundraising dinner.

“I just want to say that the end of the pandemic is in sign and next year will be one of the greatest years in the history of our country,” Trump said.

New emails and documents released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis showed that Trump and several of his top officials actively interfered with the CDC’s efforts to warn Americans about the severity of COVID-19. The White House also blocked briefings and interviews with CDC officials about mask guidance and pediatric COVID-19 infection and deaths, according to CNN.