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Stephen Colbert shocked by Trump audio Bob Woodward revealed on 'The Late Show'

Bob Woodward released audio recordings last week of conversations he had with President Trump in February and March in which the president acknowledged the dangers of the coronavirus, but said he wanted to downplay the dangers in public. On Monday night, Woodward revealed new audio on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that Colbert called “extraordinarily shocking.” In audio from April, at a time when Trump was saying the coronavirus would soon disappear and he refused to wear a mask in public as the CDC recommended, Trump told Woodward that after someone sneezed in a meeting in the Oval Office, everyone, including Trump, bailed on the meeting and immediately left the room.

Video Transcript

STEPHEN COLBERT: Well, here, he's making light there at the end. But at the heart of that is something extraordinarily shocking.

BOB WOODWARD: Yes.

- Stephen Colbert was shocked on The Late Show Monday night, when Bob Woodward revealed even more audio from his conversations with President Trump. Last week, Woodward released audio from February and March in which the president acknowledged how dangerous the coronavirus can be, and that he wanted to downplay it in public. And as Trump did just that in April, he told Woodward this.

DONALD TRUMP: And Bob, it's so easily transmissible, you wouldn't even believe it.

BOB WOODWARD: I know. It's--

DONALD TRUMP: I mean, you can, you can be in the room-- I was in the White House a couple of days ago, a meeting of 10 people in the Oval Office. And a guy sneezed innocently, not a horrible, you know, just a sneeze. The entire room bailed out, OK. Including me, by the way.

- Trump held a large indoor rally with no social distancing in Nevada Sunday night. And Woodward wondered if he employed the same philosophy there as he did in the Oval Office.

BOB WOODWARD: I mean, god knows how many people there, all packed together. I wonder if someone sneezed in the front row, that Trump would bail out again, and get out of the way.

- And Woodward said he does not believe Trump's handling of the coronavirus will be looked back upon favorably.

BOB WOODWARD: When the history books about this are written, and it's all put together, people are going to be, and historians are going to be stunned at the failure, the basic failure to lead, and say, hey, this is what's going on, guys.