This account comes from "Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History," written by Washington Post reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta about Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Axios reports. "Trump had tried to joke about the virus for months, sometimes even mocking people who had become ill. ... At one meeting several months [before Trump got sick], NEC director Larry Kudlow had stifled a cough. The room had frozen.. ... Trump had waved his hands in front of his face, as if to jokingly ward off any flying virus particles, and then cracked a smile. 'I was just kidding,' he'd said. 'Larry will never get COVID. He will defeat it with his optimism,'" an excerpt from the book obtained by the news outlet reads. "'John Bolton,' he had said ... 'Hopefully COVID takes out John,'" Trump said, according to the book. When reached for comment by Axios, Bolton said: "Fooled me — I thought he was relying on his lawyers."