"Mr. President, we've got
something that Biegun and Azar need to run by you," Mulvaney said.
?
Biegun opened with what he and
the group thought would be a basic overview of the effort to bring home
diplomats and permanent residents. as well as protections to ensure the
evacuated Americans didn't spread the virus after returning. The president
wanted to know how many people. Biegun estimated it would be several hundred
right away, and eventually could be a couple of thousand.
?
Trump exploded.
?
"We're not letting them come
back," he said. "You risk increasing my numbers. You won't increase
my numbers."
?
Trump didn't want sick Americans
landing on U.S. soil, even if they were working for the State Department, or
else the government would have to report a rise in infections, and that would
make the public - the voters - nervous. The president was always thinking about
the political ramifications for himself, even during a crisis.
?
Biegun and Azar explained the
measures under way to screen and isolate the passengers who had already landed
in California.
?
"The first flight was a
mistake," Trump said. "Those people shouldn't have been in China in
the first place."
?
Azar and Mulvaney exchanged a
look. The president was talking about Americans who had gone to China to serve
the U.S. government as if they had irresponsibly or illegally crossed into a
foreign country. Biegun compared their situation in Wuhan to a war zone. United
States government employees deserved protection and services that could not
reliably be provided to them in a city where the virus had overrun hospita1
wards and created a true emergency.
?
"It would be like leaving a
man on the field of battle," Biegun added.
?
Azar urged the president to
consider his mantra of placing America - and thus Americans - first.
?
"This would be contrary to
your brand of protecting Americans, Mr. President," he said.
?
O'Brien walked into Mulvaney's
office midconversation. Trump said he thought doing so amounted to a dangerous
risk. But Biegun and Azar stuck to their guns. They appealed to Trump's media
instincts, telling him it would look horrible not to bring Americans home when
there was a relatively safe way to do so. Trump gradually eased back, and by
the end of the call he described himself as supporting the flights. The
president said there was no other choice. Then he hung up. In the coming weeks,
Tramp would fully embrace the repatriation of Americans after hearing it
first-person accounts of some of the early evacuees.
?
"All right," Mulvaney
said, turning to the group. "The president approved the flights."
?
Azar warned Mulvaney he wasn't
sure the president was entirely on board. After his painful e-cigarette
experience with Trump, Azar wondered who the president would blame for this
later down the road.
?
"Mick, the president is not
at rest on the issue," he said.
?
Carol Leonnig "I Alone Can Fix
It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year" (2021)
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