Trump wanted to send COVID-19 infected Americans to Guantanamo – New book

FORMER US President, Donald Trump, reportedly wanted send Asia-based Americans who contracted the novel coronavirus to U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Ba, Cuba.

  The plan was leaked in a new book written by two journalists, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta, who disclosed that the former president came up with the idea around February 2020.

  According to the book, Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History, that is slated to come out next week, Trump gave hints of the idea in interviews with more than 180 people with knowledge of Trump’s earliest response to COVID-19, among whom included senior White House staff and health leaders.

  The authors also said that Trump suggested the idea to his COVID-19 response team with whom he debated it. But experts in the team preferred bringing infected Americans home to receive care rather than ‘banishing’ them to the infamous U.S. military prison in Cuba.

  More snippets from the yet-to-be-unveiled book said that Trump reportedly asked those in the Situation Room in February 2020 to give serious consideration to the idea among other options before them.

  “Don’t we have an island that we own? What about Guantanamo?” Trump was quoted as asking in the midst of a meeting with the team.

  The book further alleged that Trump then made a comment about how America imports goods — not viruses — and claims he didn’t want to increase COVID numbers on U.S. soil. But his aides shot down the idea after Trump suggested it a second time, citing concern for how it would look for American tourists to be quarantined at the same place where the country holds terrorism suspects.