A former U.S. Dept. of Defense Special Counsel is accusing President Donald Trump and his administration of lying to America and engaging in a “cover up” about just how great a threat the new novel coronavirus was. “The president and senior officials manipulated Americans and played down the severity of the pandemic,” writes Ryan Goodman, who is now a professor at New York University School of Law, in a New York Times opinion piece, along with his student Danielle Schulkin.