Trump aide Peter Navarro warned 'as many as 1.2 million souls' could be lost to coronavirus: reports

While President Donald Trump played down concerns about the coronavirus in January and February, a top White House adviser warned that a coronavirus pandemic could cost the country trillions of dollars and endanger millions of Americans, according to two new reports.

Peter Navarro, the top trade and manufacturing aide to the president, laid out the warning in two memos - one on Jan. 29 and another on Feb. 23, according to reports from the New York Times and Axios. Trump has repeatedly said that no one could have predicted the coronavirus pandemic.

In the first memo, which was sent to the National Security Council, Navarro outlined that the U.S. should implement a China travel ban, according to the reports. The virus originated from Wuhan, China.

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“The lack of immune protection or an existing cure or vaccine would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil,” Navarro said in the first memo, according to the Times. “This lack of protection elevates the risk of the coronavirus evolving into a full-blown pandemic, imperiling the lives of millions of Americans."

At the time of Navarro's first memo, aides were skeptical of his motives, Axios reported. Navarro in the past has been hawkish on China.

Trump in late January played down concerns over the virus. On Jan. 24, the president told reporters that "we have it totally under control" that it's "going to be just fine." The same day of Navarro's first memo on Jan. 29, the White House coronavirus task force was formed. Trump announced a day later that he was blocking travel from China.