No more questions about Trump’s magic cure
EDITOR'S NOTE: Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani told the Washington Post on Sunday that he was responsible for Trump's gung-ho commitment to pushing chloroquine as a "magic bullet" to cure COVID-19. “I discussed it with the president after he talked about it. I told him what I had on the drugs.” Guiliani has been tweeting about chloroquine combined with Z-Pak (zithromycin) as a "100% effective" before Twitter suspended his account for making unfounded statements. Giuliani made a point of telling the Post he did not represent nor is he invested in any of the companies making these drugs. Sure, Rudy. - Will Collette
During a press briefing Sunday night purportedly aimed at providing the U.S. public with crucial information amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump refused to allow the nation's top infectious disease expert to answer a reporter's question about the efficacy of an anti-malaria drug that the president has recklessly touted as a possible COVID-19 treatment despite warnings from medical professionals.
During a press briefing Sunday night purportedly aimed at providing the U.S. public with crucial information amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump refused to allow the nation's top infectious disease expert to answer a reporter's question about the efficacy of an anti-malaria drug that the president has recklessly touted as a possible COVID-19 treatment despite warnings from medical professionals.
Before Dr. Anthony
Fauci could respond to the question about hydroxychloroquine, Trump—who was
standing back and off to the side of the podium—complained that Fauci had
already spoken about the drug "15 times."
"You don't have
to ask the question again," said Trump, stepping forward and moving closer
to Fauci as another reporter began asking a separate question.
"This is a really
chilling moment from a science standpoint, with Trump having just pushed an
unproven COVID treatment and Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the
U.S., getting muzzled on live TV," tweeted Andrew Freedman, a climate
reporter for the Washington Post. "Was clear Trump didn't want
to be contradicted."
"Dr. Fauci, one
of the world's top infectious disease scientists, was just censored live at a
White House press conference," tweeted Tran.
The exchange came just
hours after Fauci, in an appearance on CBS' "Face the
Nation" Sunday morning, said that "in terms of science, I don't think
we could definitively say [hydroxychloroquine] works."
"The data are
really just at best suggestive," said Fauci. "There have been cases
that show there may be an effect and there are others to show there's no
effect."
During a press
briefing Saturday evening, Trump said "I really think they should they
should take it," referring to coronavirus patients and hydroxychloroquine.
Three people in
Nigeria overdosed on the drug last month after
the president said, without evidence, that the drug may be able to combat the
novel coronavirus.
In a joint statement on March 25, the American
Medical Association, American Pharmacists Association, and American Society of
Health-System Pharmacists said "there is no incontrovertible evidence to
support off-label use of medications for COVID-19."
"What do I
know?" Trump asked during the press briefing Sunday night. "I'm not a
doctor."