Trump Says He Received First Intel Briefing On Coronavirus On January 23

President Donald Trump said Sunday night that he was first briefed about coronavirus on January 23 and indicated the US intelligence agencies would be issuing a statement in the coming days.

Trump said on Fox News saying;

On January 23rd, I was told that there could be a virus coming in but it was of no real import. In other words it wasn’t, ‘Oh we gotta do something, we gotta do something.’ It was a brief conversation and it was only on January 23rd,”.

While Trump claims he was told that “there could be a virus coming in,” that January 23 briefing came three days after the first confirmed case of coronavirus in the United States.

The President was also briefed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar about the threat of the coronavirus during a January 18 phone call, according to multiple reports.

Trump also said that at the time the US intelligence community was not “competently run.”

Trump also said;

“And the intelligence agencies, which have now — now, now — because before they weren’t, which are now very competently run with some great people … the intelligence agencies will tell you that tomorrow,”.

CNN and other news outlets have reported that the President’s daily intelligence briefing included information about the coronavirus outbreak in China and its potential to spread to the United States as early as January 3. It is not clear whether Trump — who infrequently reads the President’s Daily Brief compiled by intelligence officials — read the information at the time or whether officials briefing the President in person raised the issue.