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Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed Donald Trump over the revelation that Trump acknowledged how “deadly” the coronavirus could be back in February, accusing the president of “a life-and-death betrayal of the American people” that he contended was “almost criminal.““He knew how deadly it was. It was much more deadly than the flu,” Biden said during an event with autoworkers in the swing state of Michigan. “He knew and purposely played it down. Worse, he lied to the American people. He knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months.” (Oprysko, 9/9)

“He had the information,” Mr. Biden said during a trip to the critical battleground state of Michigan. “He knew how dangerous it was. And while this deadly disease ripped through our nation, he failed to do his job on purpose. It was a life-and-death betrayal of the American people.” “It’s beyond despicable,” Mr. Biden added, detailing the crises the nation faces as a result of the pandemic that go far beyond the staggering public health costs. “It’s a dereliction of duty. It’s a disgrace.” (Kaplan, Glueck and Tankersley, 9/9)

“I truly don't get it,” Biden told [CNN's Jake] Tapper in response to clips of Trump’s interviews with Woodward about the virus, noting the tens of thousands of coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. "It was all about making sure the stock market didn't come down, that his wealthy friends didn't lose any money and that he could say anything, that in fact anything that happened had nothing to do with him," Biden added. (Klar, 9/9)

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy went after President Donald Trump on Wednesday over the revelation that the president withheld information about the severity of the coronavirus, saying that fewer people would have died if the president had been more forthright. “If we knew, specifically, that it was transmitted airborne ... If we had known that earlier, we would have shut the state meaningfully earlier. We would have gotten to a mandatory masking policy meaningfully earlier. We would have had a stay-at-home mandate put in place,” Murphy said during an afternoon appearance on CNN. (Landergan, 9/9)

Public health experts on Wednesday slammed President Trump for acknowledging privately in February that COVID-19 was far more deadly than the flu and highly contagious, even as he played down the threat publicly and urged states to reopen businesses. (Andersen, 9/9)