Whereas the real story seems to be closer to this headline and first paragraph in the admittedly partisan (but conservative) outlet The Bulwark:N.E. Brigand wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:03 am The headline and first paragraph of a New York Times article on Oct. 4, 2020:
After Biden’s Exposure to Trump, His Team Is Cagey on Health Questions
"With transparency on health newly significant in the presidential race, Joe Biden’s safety protocols have remained largely under wraps. But on Sunday evening, his campaign said he had again tested negative for the coronavirus."
That's right. The story was that Biden wasn't being open enough about his health.
Trump Tried to Kill Biden with Covid
"Of all the insane moments from 2020, this one still stands out: The former president of the United States knowingly and intentionally exposed his opponent to a deadly virus and covered it up to protect his re-election campaign."
As the author, Tim Miller, goes on to note, he had suggested at the time that this might be the case. I'm intrigued by Miller's notion that one reason Trump shouted so much in that debate is that he was trying to spread the virus. But that's not necessary to uphold Miller's thesis. Miller also has an interesting guess about why Meadows revealed this information: he might have thought it made Trump look tough.
Trump's response to Meadows's book yesterday is curious: "The story of me having COVID prior to, or during, the first debate is FAKE NEWS. In fact, a test revealed that I did not have COVID prior to the debate."
Since we know that Trump often lies, it may be a waste of time to parse his claims. Even so, I seem to recall Trump once saying that he used the term "fake news" to mean stories he didn't like (without regard to their veracity). Also, "prior to the debate" could mean hours, days, weeks, or months -- and I believe that Trump was tested repeatedly (if not as regularly as he should have been) during the pandemic, so the test he mentions here could have happened long before the debate and be irrelevant. But on top of that, Meadows' book explicitly says that Trump (1) tested positive, then (2) tested negative, and then (3) refused to be tested again prior to the debate. Trump's statement yesterday only affirms #2 and doesn't explicitly address #1 and #3.
Given all that we know, we can say with confidence that Trump and his staff knew at least that he might have Covid-19 and took no steps to prevent Joe Biden from getting sick.