Former President Donald Trump reportedly considered transferring COVID-infected Americans to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the infamous United States detention camp where 9/11 terrorist suspects are being held.

The shocking suggestion from the then-president was detailed in a forthcoming book by Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta, Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History.

The book recounts the early stage of COVID-19 in February 2020, when Trump shocked the officials in the Situation Room by suggesting the idea.

“Don’t we have an island that we own?” Trump said as he suggested this idea. “What about Guantánamo?”

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Trump then went on, the book claims, by saying, “We import goods… We are not going to import a virus.”

The officials in the room quickly dismissed the former President’s suggestion due to the concerns of a public backlash, the book added.

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Dongyoon Shin

Article by Dongyoon Shin