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Donald Trump Wanted To Send Covid-Infected Americans To Guantánamo Bay, Book Claims

Donald Trump Wanted To Send Covid-Infected Americans To Guantánamo Bay, Book Claims

The new book is called Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

A new book that is set to be published claims that Donald Trump called for Americans with Covid-19 to be sent to Guantánamo Bay.

Mr Trump, who actually contracted the virus himself at one stage, has been quoted allegedly asking aides: "Don't we have an island that we own? What about Guantánamo?"

PA

According to reports, the conversation took place during a meeting in the White House Situation Room in February 2020 - prior to the onset of the pandemic.

Now a book, which has been written by Washington Post reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta, claims that when the former President of the United States attempted to bring the Guantánamo suggestion up again it was blocked.

The book, titled Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration's Response to the Pandemic That Changed History also claims that Trump also said: "We import goods. We are not going to import a virus."

Guantánamo Bay.
PA

For anyone unaware, Guantánamo Bay is home to a prison which is used to keep terrorism suspects without trial and is well-known for the harsh conditions that people are kept in. Since the 9/11 attacks, it has been condemned by human rights groups.

According to the Guardian, the book also sheds light on alleged feuds between White House officials when it came to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, including Trump's opposition to testing, which he is said to have feared would bring down his re-election campaign.

He has been quoted yelling at Alex Azar, who was Secretary of Health and Human Services at the time. Apparently, Trump said: "Testing is killing me! I'm going to lose the election because of testing! What idiot had the federal government do testing?"

Donald Trump and Alex Azar.
PA

According to the book, Mr Azar replied: "Uh, do you mean Jared?" which is said to have related to Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who had taken over the national testing strategy.

It has been suggested that Trump was more concerned about the statistics which he called 'my numbers' than he was with illnesses and deaths.

Donald Trump has been approached for a comment.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Donald Trump