Trump defends hydroxychloroquine, viral video
"Okay, thank you very much, everybody."
President Donald Trump abruptly ended a coronavirus briefing at the White House on Tuesday (July 28), after once again sharing his support for the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine...
"Many doctors think it's extremely good."
... and defending his decision to retweet a viral video that was removed from Twitter because it violated the social media site's policy on coronavirus misinformation.
"There was a group of doctors yesterday, a large group that were put on the Internet and for some reason the Internet wanted to take them down... I don't know why. I think they're very respected doctors."
Trump also said he was very impressed with one of the doctors.
"The woman that you said is a great doctor in that video that you retweeted last night said that masks don't work and there is a cure for COVID-19, both of which health experts say is not true," said one reporter. "She's also made videos saying that doctors make medicine using DNA from aliens and that they're trying to create a vaccine to make you immune from becoming religious."
"Well, maybe it's a sign," said Trump. "Maybe it's not. But I can tell you this. She was on air along with many other doctors. They were big fans of hydroxychloroquine and I thought she was very impressive in the sense that from where she came, I don't know which country she comes from, but she said that she's had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients. And I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her."
Trump was also asked about another post he retweeted to his 84 million followers that accused Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, of suppressing the use of hydroxychloroquine.
"I don't even know what his stance is on it... You know, it's interesting. He's got a very good approval rating. And I like that. It's good. Because, remember, he's working for this administration... And he's got this high approval rating. So why don't I have a high approval rating?"
During the briefing, Trump also claimed that much of the United States was coronavirus-free. "You can look at large portions of our country, it's corona-free."
Meanwhile, most states have reported increases in coronavirus cases and six of them - California, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, Montana and Oregon - each reported record spikes in deaths on Tuesday.
