Trump, downplaying deaths, once claimed US would never see 100,000 milestone

In just under four months, more than 100,000 Americans are now reported to have died from the novel coronavirus, a grim milestone President Donald Trump once suggested the country would never see.

Roughly a month ago, Trump, at a White House task force briefing, said, "It looks like we'll be at about a 60,000 mark, which is 40,000 less than the lowest number thought of."

A few days later, on April 24, he again sought to highlight a lesser number: "Minimal numbers were going to be 100,000 people. And we're going to be, hopefully, far below that."

As the politically fraught threshold neared Tuesday, he continued to play down the actual figure, using new language.

"If we didn't act quickly and smartly we would've had, in my opinion and the opinion of others, anywhere from 10 to 20 and maybe even 25 times the number of deaths," Trump said, when asked to comment at a Rose Garden news conference.

He continued to make the unverified claim, as he does at every opportunity, that his decision to impose partial restrictions on travel from China, which took effect in early February, had made all the difference.